“We will not hide them from their descendants; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, His power, and the wonders He has done.” Psalm 78:4

There’s a whopping 71 verses in Psalm 78.  It’s not the longest psalm in the Bible, but definitely one of the longer ones.  The interesting thing is once you get past the first eight verses, a predictable pattern starts to emerge.  Verse nine is actually where the history begins to be laid out over time, but before that, in verses one through eight, we are given a special gift.

The writer shares with us a foundation.  It is the very foundation for how we can establish and shore up our faith–best shown through our loyalty and faithfulness to God.  In those first verses, the psalmist grants us a road map to faith building: a way to keep our faith alive, growing and steady.

He instructs us to share what we have been told by others–what we have heard and what we have known about God.  Moreover, the psalmist tailors our attention in building faith to:

• God’s praiseworthy deeds
• His power
• The wonders He has done

Focusing on and sharing these three things is what will help fortify our hope and trust in God.  It will also inspire others to trust in Him. The news of Who He is and what He is capable of will give us the courage to follow His ways and be faithful to Him even when we don’t want to or think that we can’t.

When we choose to think on His praiseworthy deeds, we gain access to His ever-present physical, spiritual and emotional refuge.  By reflecting on what He has done, we can reassure ourselves that He is present with us in all that we are currently going through.

Digging a bit deeper into what qualifies as praiseworthy, we will find that it involves those things that are “deserving of praise; laudable.” See Praiseworthy The roots of praiseworthy come directly from praise, which involve:

1. the act of expressing approval or admiration;
2. the offering of grateful homage in words or song as an act of worship.  See Praise.

Praise, itself, is rooted in prize (the second definition) and that is “to value or esteem highly; to estimate worth or value of.”  See Prize.  And deeds, well, those are in essence, “an act or gesture, especially illustrative of intentions, one’s character or the like.” See Deeds.

All of those definitions expand the idea of God in our lives by removing the expectation or requirement that His Presence be only manifested or proved by miracles.  Quite the contrary, anything…and I mean every little thing…that we value or highly esteem can be traced back to God’s kindness, love, steadfastness and faithfulness to us.

The other day, at our local monthly outreach, a man and his adult son came in.  I didn’t recognize them and made my way over to where they stood, as they were a bit overwhelmed by all that they could see going on.  In the older gentleman’s hand was our Christmas application.  It was folded such that I could see his name, and I knew right away who he was without ever having met him before.

It was the first year that we started our Christmas program for senior citizens. An application arrived filled out for both him and his wife.  His wife, not bearing the thought of him going without, wrote out the form for both of them.  In it, she shared that he was having a particularly difficult year.  After reviewing a handful of applications where the applicants had suffered a very difficult year, we created a special program designed to get them through the month of December.

And so, we began.  Each week in December, a beautiful bag would arrive on certain doorsteps with bells and whistles that made it near impossible to deny that Someone cared.  The bag was meant to shore up the idea that they were not forgotten by God nor mankind.  Over the years, for this particular couple, things had gotten better though, financially, things remained the same…

Until last year…

Our little families of Easter bunnies set out to deliver special baskets to seniors (from our Christmas programs) and returned with the sad news that his wife had passed away.  Their Christmas application written in her hand writing left me to believe that her passing was somewhat unexpected.  I struggled with how best to handle his situation as autumn approached.  I wasn’t sure whether to send him the application, or just create the bags as I knew how tough this holiday season would be.  After much prayer, I popped the application in the mail with a little personal note, hoping to see it returned.

I just didn’t expect for it to come the way it did…

As he stood before me, not knowing who I was, he tenderly held that form.  I smiled, introduced myself and told him how glad I was to finally meet him.  And how very sorry I was for his loss.  We spoke of their years married, where she worked when they were younger, and what he did.  His mind visited the places they had seen and the things they loved to do.  His love for her was immeasurable, and his desire to revisit those memories was strong.  I listened and reassured his tender heart where I could.

Then came the moment where we had to part.  I reached out and offered a hug, which he warmly received.  It was there that he began to fall apart.  Quiet tears that brimmed his eyes here and there turned into deep sobs–deep from within.  I held onto him and said I understood.  I truly did.

Two simple words: my dad.  I gently told him that the very program that had brought us together that day stemmed from losing my father just years ago.  As I had looked at those original Christmas applications that had arrived and held so much more pain than the rest, I had a personal understanding of how hard that December would be.  I knew that the beautiful lights, joyful music and good cheer…all designed to celebrate happiness…just didn’t fit so well when you don’t feel anything but pain and sadness.  His sobs grew a little deeper as he relaxed in my arms trusting that I seemed to be familiar with his new companion, grief.

You might wonder how that can be a praiseworthy deed of the Lord?  Let me tell you–I never expected to meet him and I understood that was God’s doing.  They had always returned their application by mail; they had never returned it to the event listed on the form.  I knew that God moved his heart to deliver it in person; God moved his son to bring him; and God opened a path for me to see him and make my way through the midst of lots of other people needing attention.

Sometimes we think that the only thing that is praiseworthy are the things that make us feel “good”, but we miss so much more when we restrict God’s work in our lives to only that which we perceive to be a “feel-good” blessing or emotion.  Some of God’s most amazing work comes through tears and pain.

I have been blessed to see the hand of God move quietly in the lives of those He has asked us to reach out to.  We don’t believe in making people smile or pretend they are not effected by what is hurting.  Rather we offer a shoulder, a hug, some encouragement or sometimes just quiet reverence for the difficulty they are facing. Many times, comfort comes from the simple message that they are not alone. I cannot emphasize enough how little control I have in how God connects those dots.  Instead, I stand in awe and reverence; blown away by how fortunate we are to have such a loving God who allows us to be a part of someone else’s journey through this life–both in the good and in the hard times.

That tear-stained, humbling moment with that gentleman, despite how painful it was, deserves my heartfelt praise for our God who orchestrated that meeting.  In the midst of this man’s deep, deep pain–the loss readily visible in his eyes; the longing for her company in his words–he chose to let us be a part of his journey this holiday season.  Our God connecting us to another who truly needs kindness, understanding and love as he transitions to a world without the love he has always known.

Friends, we need to see and praise Him for such connections.  To allow moments like that to shore up the hard work and sacrifice in time, effort or cost that He may be asking us to do to reach another.  By seeing His movements as praiseworthy deeds we can grow our trust in being obedient to what He asks.  And then, in joy and with pain, we can go one step further and share what we’ve seen to help grow even more faith in Him.

Find the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord in your life.  Look for them everywhere.  Let God’s deeds, His acts, His achievements and His gestures that you see be known to all that will listen.  Let us build up our walls of trust in Him by remembering His praiseworthy deeds regularly and with delight!

“My people, hear my teaching; listen to the words of my mouth.  I will open my mouth with a parable; I will utter hidden things from of old–things we have heard and known, things our ancestors have told us.”  Psalm 78:1-2