“And at midnight, Paul and Silas, being at prayer, began singing praises unto God, and the prisoners unto them did hearken.” (Acts 16:25 Roth.)
The pattern of many psalms is — cry out to me (God) and I will deliver you and ye shall praise me. For example Ps. 7:1 (all quotes from RSV) begins “Deliver me from all my pursuers, lest like a lion, they rend me, dragging me away, with none to rescue” and v. 17 reads “I will give to the LORD the thanks due to his righteousness, and I will sing praise to the name of the LORD, the most high.” It is no wonder Paul speaks of being rescued from the lion’s mouth in 2 Tim. 4:17 and Peter refers to your adversary the devil, prowling around, as a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. (1 Pet. 5:8) And, of course, we have Daniel in the lions den, whose faith stopped the mouths of lions. Literal lions, or roaring bite-off-your-head type people, God can and will rescue the upright whose praise is in Him. Paul in the stronghold (prison) of men, with feet bound in stocks, knew that “the LORD is a stronghold for the oppressed — in times of trouble (Ps. 9:9-10) who “does not forget the cry of the afflicted, and so, when release came by God’s earthquake, he (9:1 & 11) did “Tell of all thy wonderful deeds” especially that of (v. 13) “lifting (Jesus) up from the gates of death,” and on hearing of God’s great works of deliverance, the jailer and all his household believed on the name of God and Jesus and were baptized and they too praised God. (9:2) “I will be glad and exult in thee, I will sing praise to thy name, O Most High,” became their new attitude in living.
(Ps. 10:17-18) “God heard the desire of the meek” (Paul and Silas) and “strengthened their hearts, inclined His ear and did justice — to the oppressed, so that man who is of the earth may strike terror no more.” And so the magistrates and jailer and the men who had had Paul and Silas dragged into the market place, attacked by the crowds, garments torn off and beaten with rods, afflicted them with many blows and placed their feet in stocks in the inner prison were themselves terrified and afraid (Acts 16:27 & 38) and were humbled and apologized to Paul and Silas.
Paul and Silas sang praises to God before deliverance. They must have prayed as in Ps. 12:7-8 “Do thou, 0 LORD, protect us, guard us ever from this generation. On every side the wicked prowl, as vileness is exalted among the sons of men.” Though beset by foes on all sides, they believed that (v. 6) “the promises of the LORD are promises that are pure, silver refined in a furnace on the ground, purified seven times.” and found (v. 5) “Because the poor are despoiled, because the needy groan, I will now arise,” says the LORD; I will place him in the safety for which he longs.” (Peter, too, found this true and found deliverance from the prison of men).
Who would have thought that in a Macedonian prison the fields would be yet “white to the harvest?” While the prisoners heard the singing and prayers of Paul and Silas, it was the jailer and his household who were granted salvation. So Paul could say as in Psalm 13:5-6 “I have trusted in thy steadfast love, my heart shall rejoice in thy salvation. I will sing to the LORD because he has dealt bountifully with me.” (And so while a new candidate prepares for baptism and then dresses to rejoin us as a new brother/sister, we sing hymns of praise to God that He has dealt bountifully with us and granted salvation to one more — if they continue a faithful walk now begun in the LORD). And so Psalm 16:7 and 11 read “I bless the LORD who gives me counsel in the night, also my heart instructs me—thou dost show me the path of life: in thy presence there is fullness of joy, in thy right hand, (in Christ, the right hand man of God) are pleasures for evermore.”
And so, we can join in the words of Ps. 18:1-3 “I love thee, 0 LORD my strength. (the 1st commandment to us being to love God with our whole heart, soul, strength and mind). The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies.”
Praise is due to our Shepherd (Ps. 23:1) and to the Lamb, as in Rev. 5:12,13) “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth, and wisdom, and might and honor and glory and blessing. And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea and all therein, saying, “to him who sits upon the throne and to the lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might for ever and ever’.” This was part of the joy Paul looked forward to that enabled him to sing praises to God while suffering from the wounds inflicted by men as he “enthroned (God) on the praises of men, (Ps. 22:3). Do we enlarge God’s throne with our praises to Him? Praise to God should be a vital part of our daily life, in our prayers, in our singing and in our thoughts, that we may say with David, (Ps. 26:11-12 “As for me, I walk in my integrity, redeem me and be gracious to me. My foot stands on level ground, in the great congregation I will bless the LORD.” In the temple soon to be erected by the master builder may we too find that we have been granted the “one thing (that) we have asked of the LORD, that we may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of our life, to behold he beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple.” (Ps. 27:4-6) and to “offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy” and to “sing and make melody to the LORD.”
I’ve used a yellow pen to highlight the sections of the Psalms in one Bible praising God and this helps to find both reasons and words to extol the goodness and mercy and love of God. Join in Psalm 34:1-3 “I will bless the LORD at all times, his praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul makes its boast in the LORD. Let the afflicted hear and be glad. 0 magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together.”
Let us put our worries behind us, and trust in the LORD as in Psalm 56:9, 11; God’s steadfast love gives this peace and serenity of mind to all those who praise him and think on his name and pay their vows and offer the sacrifice of thanksgiving day after day.
There are so many psalms revealing the thanksgiving and praise due to God it is hard to select just a few. There’s enough for a lifetime of joy by day, and meditation on our beds at night. “Who can utter (express) the mighty doings of the LORD, or show forth all his praise?” The jailer as one of those gathered in from the nations, (Ps. 106:4748 and 107:1-3) who rejoiced with all his household is a living example from the word of the rejoicing we feel (or should feel) every day of our lives that we believe in God and show forth all His praise.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One