Birds of Praise

I woke up to a chorus of praise this morning coming through my open window. As the sun rose, the birds began their day with a joyous song of praise to their Creator. My heart too, bubbled up with praise as I heard them. My heart heard the call to join in with all of creation in praise to our God.

Praise the LORD.
How good it is to sing praises to our God,
how pleasant and fitting to praise him! Psalm 147:1

I will exalt you, my God the King;
I will praise your name for ever and ever.
Every day I will praise you
and extol your name for ever and ever.
Great is the LORD and most worthy of praise;
his greatness no one can fathom. Psalm 145:1-3

I was pondering Psalm 136 the other day. I've been intrigued by it for many years. It tells the story of our great God and how he delivered the people of Israel out of bondage. After each phrase, the refrain "for his steadfast love endures forever," is repeated time and time again. Could you imagine telling a story of a happening in your life and inserting "for his steadfast love endures forever" mid-sentence throughout the telling of it? I was wondering why the Psalm was written that way. I think I might know.

Maybe it's because that's the whole point of all of life. "His steadfast love endures forever." In all His greatness, and majesty, and splendor, it's His faithful love that makes Him worthy of praise. We can marvel at His power and His beautiful creation, but if we miss that God loves us with an unending, unwavering love... that's simply.... very sad...empty...meaningless.

God loves us. God loves us. God loves us. And He always will.

Maybe being called a "birdbrain" isn't as bad an insult as intended... for even the birds know that it's fitting to praise Him. :)