| “Sing to God, sing praise to his name, extol him who rides on the clouds—his name is the Lord— and rejoice before him. A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling.” |
| —Psalm 68:4-5 |
We don’t use the word “extol” in normal conversation very much. At least I seldom hear anyone use it when I listen to people talk.
“Extol” is a transitive verb that means “to praise highly or to glorify.” I have to smile a bit when I think about this word. I can’t imagine anyone saying, “I extol Dean for …” I just don’t think there is anything that I might do or say that would make me worthy of that kind of praise. Perhaps you feel the same way I do.
But, as believers in the life-transforming power of the living Lord Jesus Christ, we have no difficulty in imagining the One in our lives whom we most certainly can extol. In fact, we can surely stand with King David and affirm these words he penned, as recorded in Psalm 68:4-5:
Sing to God, sing praise to his name, extol him who rides on the clouds—his name is the Lord—and rejoice before him. A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling.
Since David’s Psalms—and all Psalms—are really songs, it seems quite appropriate that motivating singers might be intimately involved in whatever David chooses to write. Here, David calls for us to sing praise to God and extol—or glorify—this One who rides on the clouds.
And, that’s not enough for King David. He calls on us to acknowledge that God is a “Father to the fatherless, a defender of widows,” and that “He dwells in His holy temple.” What’s more, King David realizes that if our God is a Father to the fatherless and a defender of widows, we ought to be so, too. In our quest to walk in the footsteps of Jesus, we must strive to be like Him. If He cares for the downtrodden in life, we must care for the downtrodden in life. That’s a reality for us as we begin a new day. It may be somewhat outside of our normal comfort zone. But, God didn’t call wimps to be His ambassadors. No! He called you and He called me.
Based on a blog originally posted on Wednesday, September 26, 2018
