The verse is a personal call for one's own soul to praise the Lord from the heart and with all within, with full joy. Joined with verse 2, it expresses a commitment to praise God throughout life, singing praises to God while one lives and has being and for as long as one lives. That lifelong praise is joined to putting no trust in princes, human rulers, or man, in whom there is no help and who cannot help.
Praise and thanksgiving flow when the mind dwells on heavenly things and on Christ's love and His great and wonderful gift, because God pours His light and glory into the heart, as the heart looks away from what is dark and forbidding and opens to the love and generosity of the heavenly Father. Such meditation talks of Christ's coming, the end of all things, getting ready for His appearing, the heavenly city, the tree of life in the midst of the paradise of God, the King in His beauty with His kingly crown, the riches given to the children of God, and the stream going out from the throne of God. It is not a sin to be happy but right to praise, and much is gained by keeping a cheerful frame of mind instead of dwelling on sorrows and trials and on the mistakes and disagreeable traits of others, which weakens spiritually and makes a dark and disagreeable experience.
Such meditation makes believers joyful witnesses whose happiness convicts the world, strengthens them in God, and prepares them to enter the New Jerusalem as sons and daughters, not convicts, to receive the crown and join the song of heaven. The verse becomes the song of children and parents rejoicing together when humble houses of worship are built by willing hands, means are given to help, and schools are opened for children, showing the work advancing as it should be done. The verse is a personal response after earnest night prayer for healing power, physical strength, and courage to carry heavy burdens and to speak messages of reproof, warning, and encouragement, expressing relief from weakness and from a tired brain and burdened heart, rejoicing in the peace of Christ, strengthened hope, renewed courage, a daily sense of divine favor, hunger and thirst for righteousness, and thanks for being shown God's way.
The verse is a personal call for one's own soul to praise the Lord from the heart and with all within, with full joy. Joined with verse 2, it expresses a commitment to praise God throughout life, singing praises to God while one lives and has being and for as long as one lives. That lifelong praise is joined to putting no trust in princes, human rulers, or man, in whom there is no help and who cannot help.
Praise and thanksgiving flow when the mind dwells on heavenly things and on Christ's love and His great and wonderful gift, because God pours His light and glory into the heart, as the heart looks away from what is dark and forbidding and opens to the love and generosity of the heavenly Father. Such meditation talks of Christ's coming, the end of all things, getting ready for His appearing, the heavenly city, the tree of life in the midst of the paradise of God, the King in His beauty with His kingly crown, the riches given to the children of God, and the stream going out from the throne of God. It is not a sin to be happy but right to praise, and much is gained by keeping a cheerful frame of mind instead of dwelling on sorrows and trials and on the mistakes and disagreeable traits of others, which weakens spiritually and makes a dark and disagreeable experience.
Such meditation makes believers joyful witnesses whose happiness convicts the world, strengthens them in God, and prepares them to enter the New Jerusalem as sons and daughters, not convicts, to receive the crown and join the song of heaven. The verse becomes the song of children and parents rejoicing together when humble houses of worship are built by willing hands, means are given to help, and schools are opened for children, showing the work advancing as it should be done. The verse is a personal response after earnest night prayer for healing power, physical strength, and courage to carry heavy burdens and to speak messages of reproof, warning, and encouragement, expressing relief from weakness and from a tired brain and burdened heart, rejoicing in the peace of Christ, strengthened hope, renewed courage, a daily sense of divine favor, hunger and thirst for righteousness, and thanks for being shown God's way.