Good morning people who complain about problems less and praise God more.

Psalms 34:1-3 NIV I will extol the Lord at all times; his praise will always be on my lips. I will glory in the Lord; let the afflicted hear and rejoice. Glorify the Lord with me; let us exalt his name together.

King David wrote this in a very dark place in his life when he had to pretend to be insane in order to not be killed. I think this makes these words even more powerful than they appear to be.

David states that it is God and His goodness that will always be on his lips. Rather than complaining, David chose praise. And this is a keyword – he chose praise.

Many people don’t praise because they don’t feel like it. Distractions are all around, and feelings can be like roller coasters. Many times we conclude, “I can’t praise God right now because…” It simply is not an accurate statement. We can always praise God, but we don’t always choose to praise God.

David takes it further and declares that other afflicted people will hear his praise of God. Wow! Even in his darkness, David was thinking about his influence of others; he was aware of his call to point people towards God.

And then he does something that is so powerful even in our lives today. David praised alone, but he also praised God with other people; ‘Glorify the Lord with me and let us exalt His name together.’

What do you do when you are alone: do you praise or complain?

What do you do when you are with other people: do you praise or complain?

I encourage you to slowly meditate your way through these verses above, and to intentionally choose to glorify God – alone and with other people.