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April 21, 2019

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They Had Seen the King

"Praise the LORD, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name." Psalm 103:1

David had desperately fallen into sin with Bathsheba and had mournfully sought the Lord in confession and repentance. Now, forgiven and restored, he seems to be utterly consumed with the burning desire of heart and spirit to praise and bless the Lord as he cries out, "Praise the LORD, O my soul; all my inmost being." He seems to have reached a zenith of praise in which he is inadequate to express the depth of his soul. Everything within me, the whole of my being, "Praise the Lord!"

Then he goes a step further. He not only praises the Lord for the reconciliation he has received, but for WHO HE IS, "Praise His holy name." Of all the attributes of God, it is His holiness, in all of its perfection, that stamp worth and excellence on all of His attributes! It is the foundation upon which His other attributes rest.

David, having spent much time in the "secret place of the Most High" and "in the sanctuary of God," had entered into a deeper appreciation of the holiness of God. When Moses encountered God, He revealed His holiness at the burning bush that was not consumed. "Do not come any closer," God said. "Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground."

Isaiah had a transforming encounter with God in his vision (Isaiah 6): "I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted. Above him were seraphs. And they were calling one to another, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty, the whole earth is full of his glory." Isaiah's response was, "Woe to me! I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty."

In the measure that we revere the holiness of God, so will be the measure of our response, our reverence, our worship, and our commitment to Him.

David's life was one of continual praise, a torrent of water springing up in adoration, praise, and worship. Moses responds to God when He showed him a "measure" of His glory on Mt. Sinai, and he cries out to God, "Now show me your glory." Isaiah heard the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" And he said, "Here am I, send me." Why did they and others give themselves unreservedly to the Lord? Because they had SEEN THE KING!

I wonder how many of us have "seen the King" high and exalted, in a measure of His majesty, have seen the Lord of Glory seated on the throne? How needful it is for us, in these days of unprecedented liberality and sin, to see the King in His Majesty. It is then that we will fall before Him as Isaiah, take off our shoes as Moses, and live our lives in continual praise, adoration, and worship as David.

It is then we will respond in unreserved surrender to His lordship and sovereignty of our lives. It is then we will begin to see His mighty hand in our lives making the crooked ways straight, moving the mountains, and parting the waters! It is then we will see the futility of our finite vision that seeks to measure our lives by the standards of man.

Then our hearts will respond as David, "Praise the LORD, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name!" Have you SEEN THE KING?

© 2007 by Ed Powell. Used by permission.


This page was reprinted by permission from: http://www.litmin.org/dare.php?date=2019-04-21


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