Dave's Diary

Daily Readings: Luke 19 and Psalm 35

³⁷ When He came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen …

The disciples did not comprehend it at the time, but Jesus was entering Jerusalem to establish His Kingdom in an unexpected way. He was not there to snatch power from King Herod, nor to conquer the military might of Rome. He was there to take the next step in establishing His Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven, by laying down His life on the Cross in the ultimate act of self-sacrificial love.

To their great credit, though, despite their lack of understanding, the whole crowd of disciples “began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen“. It’s a simple statement, but it should be an inspiration to us never to offer our praises from mere emotion or as an act of mere habit. Despite the limits of our understanding of the Lord and His ways, we can all understand perfectly well how much the Lord has done for us. So, whenever we approach the Lord to worship as His disciples, our minds should be fully engaged in remembering the great things He has done for us and expressing our thanks and praise to Him for His wondrous acts.

We should never be guilty of mindless praise. We should never have nothing specific in our minds as we give Him praise. Instead we should always be fully mindful of the things that we have seen Him do in our lives. Every time I say, “Praise the Lord!” I should be able to answer the question if someone asks me: “Praise Him for what?”

Life application: Take a few minutes to reflect on yesterday and to remember all the good the Lord did in your life. Then give Him mindful thanks and praise. On Saturday night, reflect on the week, and then come to Sunday’s worship gathering with a heart and mind filled with reasons to praise!