“I will praise you, Lord my God, with all my heart; I will glorify your name forever.” Psalms 86:12 NIV
Many passages of scripture are focused on praising God. Some talk about praising God in a general way and others, like this verse, are personal. What makes this one personal to me is where David writes ‘I will praise the Lord my God.’ In this verse, which is part of a prayer to God, David is focused on his relationship with God. So many times we reference God as ‘the Lord’ or simply ‘God’ but our relationship with God is very personal. No one can develop your relationship with God and no one can harm your relationship with God. You are in charge of how deep or shallow, how intense or how mild your relationship with and commitment to God is.
We know from scripture that David had a very personal relationship with God, he was not just part of the group that worshipped God, he spoke to God faithfully. This verse is just one of many passages where David talks with God. Here David has made a commitment to glorifying God’s name forever, not just when he feels like it or when he is being prosperous but always.
Also in this verse, David states that he will praise God with all of his heart. Some times we praise God with only our mouths or our minds but not always our hearts. Our hearts should always be involved in praising the Lord. We should be ‘all in’ when praising and glorifying our Creator.
When you praise God, are you all in?