The Overwhelming Importance of Believers Assembling to Exalt and Magnify the Lord!

22 Jun 2025 Leave a comment

by randyobrien50 in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Psalm 34:1.        I will bless the Lord at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth.

So once again it’s Sunday, the Lord’s day, when we’re supposed to gather in His sanctuary, or anywhere possible, and give Him thanks and praise for all that He’s done for His human creation. Yes, the scriptures proscribe it, as this verse from Hebrews reminds us. ‘Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.’ (Heb. 10:25) And yuh better believe that the day of the Lord’s glorious return is quickly approaching.

And the scholars explain that verse thus. ‘Not forsaking the assembling: This admonition involves far more than erratic attendance. It involves the entire worship of Christ and is an outward indication of an inner condition. The assembling of God’s people provides opportunity for reciprocal encouragement, strengthening, and the stirring up that can be gained from one another (cf. Col. 3:12-16) It consists of participation in worship and fellowship. The church is a body interacting (1 Cor. 12:14-27); it is not merely a dispensary for spiritual food and medicine.’

Now, all of that is the gospel truth my faithful brethren. Getting together to worship our great God is the epitome, the essence of our faith. And today we’ll open with a song that will lift us up, stir us up and define the interaction of Christ’s body. (smile) It’s that famous song based on some words of Bruh David from Psalm 34, titled ‘O Taste and See that the Lord is good.’  

And what does that mean? One commentary explains it thus: ‘It is an invitation to experience God’s goodness and faithfulness firsthand. The verse suggests that simply believing in God’s goodness isn’t enough; one must actively “taste” it by experiencing His presence and blessings in their life.’ Now that’s one way to never go wrong! But while the song is attributed to one Shane Bernard, it is sensationally performed by the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir and is my all-time favourite video worship song. I had not heard it for a while, then I listened to it this past week, and immediately knew we had to sing it today. (smile)

And if you think that I am biased about the song, then listen to these two commentaries on it. The first says: ‘This is how it would be like in heaven. Every voice, musicians, race, soul praising the name of God. Amen!!’ And the second is like unto it: ‘Every frame, every beat, every note, perfectly executed. THIS is musical perfection in gospel music.’ And believe me that’s the infallible truth! For the musicians get into the song and fire it right up, as they can do when they’re inspired. And if you’ve never seen the video, you ought to, because it will certainly stir you up. (smile)

But enough talk, let’s get to the song, and raise our voices in sweet sacrifices of praise in an up-tempo, soulful, scintillating, heart-rending rendition of the song. Singing: ‘I sought the Lord And He answered me And delivered me From every fear. Those who look on Him Are radiant They’ll never be ashamed They’ll never be ashamed. This poor man cried And the Lord heard me And saved me from My enemies. The Son of God Surrounds His saints He will deliver them He will deliver them.

Magnify the Lord with me Come exalt His name together Glorify the Lord with me Come exalt His name forever. Oh taste and see That the Lord is good Oh blessed is he Who hides in Him. Oh fear the Lord Oh all you saints He’ll give you everything He’ll give you everything. (Magnify the Lord with me Come exalt His name together Glorify the Lord with me Come exalt His name forever. Repeat) (Let us bless the Lord Every day and night Never ending praise May our incense rise. Repeat 4 times)

Magnify the Lord with me Come exalt His name together Glorify the Lord with me Come exalt His name forever. {Repeat} Oh taste and see That the Lord is good. He’ll give you everything He’ll give you everything. Oh taste and see That the Lord is good. He’ll give you everything…He’ll give you everything. …He’ll give you everything…’

Now there’s an indisputable fact friends! If we continually worship the Lord like Bruh David says in the Psalm, He will give us everything! And by the way, that was a marvellous version; all heaven was singing along with us.  As this commentary says: ‘I just imagine being in heaven worshipping with this magnificent choir, just magnifying our great God! Hallelujah!!’ 

Then this other commentary tells it thus: ‘Every time I listen to this song, I imagine myself along with all the other saints in heaven worshipping. This song carries a strong anointing. You can feel the presence of the heavenly hosts. The worship that the people utter after the song is like Heaven, every, race, every tongue raising up their voices in one accord unto the King of Kings.’ And that’s exactly how it ought to be!

It’s also interesting how the writer of the song only took verses 3-10 from the psalm and created such a wonderful song. But that happens when you are spiritually inspired by the Lord of the universe. Now here’s how Bruh David began the psalm: ‘I will bless the Lord at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make her boast in the Lord: the humble shall hear thereof, and be glad.’ (Ps. 34:1-2) Then he goes into the verses used in the song, about magnifying and exalting the Lord with him etc.

And the basis of the psalm comes from 1 Samuel 21, where Bruh David was running away from King Saul and lied to the priest Ahimelech about a secret mission for the king, and because the mission was so urgent, he never had time to procure food nor weapons. Ahimelech believed him, and gave him the ceremonial hallowed shew bread, which was all he had, as well as the sword that Bruh David had taken from Goliath after he killed him. And I like Bruh David’s response to Ahimelech’s comment about Goliath’s sword being the only weapon available. ‘And David said, There is none like that; give it me.’ (1 Sam .21:9b) He should know. (smile)

Then Bruh David ran to Gath, to the land of the Philistines, to Achish the king of Gath, for succour, feigning madness. Consequently, as the scholars explain, the psalm bears all the marks of the testimony of one who narrowly escaped death, just as the passage in Samuel describes. As such it contains the praise and testimony of the one who was redeemed (vs. 1-10) and the seasoned instruction that can stem from such deliverance (vs. 11-22).’

Ah mih people, trials and tribulations are a natural aspect of this evil and ungodly world, and there’s much we can learn from the way the faithful heroes who preceded us handled them, so please, let’s not just read and gloss them over, but study them and try to put them into practice in our lives. It will be ever so beneficial to us! Much LOVE!

…there’s nothing better believers can do…than magnify and exalt the Lord’s name together…

Hear our podcast at https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/randy-obrien

Today’s Scrip-Bit   2 January 2022 Psalm 34:4.

02 Jan 2022 Leave a comment

by randyobrien50 in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Psalm 34:4.      I sought the Lord, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears. 

Here it is friends, the first Sunday of this new year of 2022! And although we still can’t worship with the freedom and gay abandon that we once did, with the Lord’s help, we’ve found technological ways to keep on worshipping individually, while gathering in small Covid regulated groups for corporate worship. But regardless of how we do it, the important thing is that we are still worshipping despite the many constraints and restrictions placed upon us. 

And today, this first Sunday of the new year, we are going to open with a most appropriate song, one of the most remarkable and beautiful songs of this century. We are talking about the reworking by Shane Barnard of the first ten verses of Bruh David’s famous Psalm 34 – The Lord hears the righteous. And that He certainly does my people! Barnard subtitled his song ‘O taste and see that the Lord is good,’ and the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir has done a wonderful version of it. 

Every time I see the live video of it, my spirit gets a miraculous lift. As one comment on the performance says: ‘Every time I listen to this song, I imagine myself along with all the other saints in heaven worshipping. This song carries a strong anointing. You can feel the presence of the heavenly hosts.’ And that’s no lie. So, a la the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir, let’s raise our voices in sacrificial praise, let’s magnify and exalt the Lord’s holy name together, letting Him know that this year we are determined to be more faithful than we were in 2021. 

From the depths of our hearts and souls then: ‘I sought the Lord And He answered me And delivered me From every fear. Those who look on Him Are radiant They’ll never be ashamed They’ll never be ashamed. This poor man cried And the Lord heard me And saved me from My enemies. The Son of God Surrounds His saints He will deliver them He will deliver them. 

Magnify the Lord with me Come exalt His name together Glorify the Lord with me Come exalt His name forever. Oh taste and see That the Lord is good Oh blessed is he Who hides in Him. Oh fear the Lord Oh all you saints He’ll give you everything He’ll give you everything. (Magnify the Lord with me Come exalt His name together Glorify the Lord with me Come exalt His name forever. Repeat) 

(Let us bless the Lord Every day and night Never ending praise May our incense rise. Repeat 4 times) Magnify the Lord with me Come exalt His name together Glorify the Lord with me Come exalt His name forever. {Repeat} Oh taste and see That the Lord is good. He’ll give you everything He’ll give you everything. Oh taste and see That the Lord is good. He’ll give you everything He’ll give you everything. …He’ll give you everything…’ 

Oh my people, that was just wonderful! We were almost as good as the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir! (smile) Wow! Heaven knows now that we are serious about worshipping our great God. And a couple more accolades for the BTC, are in order here. One says: ‘I just imagine being in heaven worshipping with this magnificent choir, just magnifying our great God! Hallelujah!!’ 

And the other declares: ‘The worship that the people utter after the song is like Heaven, every race, every tongue raising up their voices in one accord unto The King of Kings.’ But you know what grabs me most about the whole performance is the way the musicians get into the song. You can see that they are truly feeling it. And that to me is what makes it so lively and enchanting, for when musicians really feel what they play, it just lifts the entire performance. 

And the whole psalm is based on Bruh David’s simple but heart felt words: ‘I sought the Lord, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.’ (Ps. 34:4) Yes friends, that’s what sincerely seeking the Lord can do. And we know that’s what Bruh David did for his whole life, despite the many mistakes he made, and the Lord blessed him continually. 

Now the prophet Azariah also made a similar claim to the people of Israel on one of the occasions when they had turned away from the God of their forefathers and found themselves in serious trouble. The Good Book describes it thus: ‘And the Spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded. And he went out to meet Asa, (the pious and faithful king who was sincerely trying to clean up Israel’s idolatrous behaviour) and said unto him, 

Hear ye me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin; The Lord is with you, while ye be with him; and if ye seek him, he will be found of you; but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you. Now for a long season Israel hath been without the true God, and without a teaching priest (prophet), and without law. But when they in their trouble did turn unto the Lord God of Israel, and sought him, he was found of them.’ (2 Chr. 15:1-4) 

Yuh see that mih bredrin? Although Israel had forsaken the Lord, when they turned back to Him in time of trouble, they found Him, and He released their fear. So what does that tell us in this current time of great fear and ungodliness eh? It’s simple and so apparent: we need to turn back to the God of our forefathers and ask for His help. But very few of us, comparatively speaking are even looking to the Lord for help in these turbulent, fearful and very disruptive times. 

And listen to Bruh David’s advice from Psalm 9 nuh. ‘The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble. And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee: for thou, Lord, hast not forsaken them that seek thee.’ (Ps. 9:9-10) Oh my people, it couldn’t be any plainer or more straightforward than that! In times of trouble the Lord God Almighty is our surest refuge, the best place to turn to for help! So why aren’t we turning to Him in greater numbers eh? 

Because we are too hard-headed, proud and stubborn, and like to do our own thing, even though it’s not working. But please remember these wise words of Jesus: ‘And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.’ (Luke 11:9-10) 

And I believe that’s a good place for us to end today. But please my fellow saints, let’s not forget that though this is a new year, nothing has really changed, just some digits on our computers and papers. We still have a host of problems to deal with and changing a date won’t solve them. The only thing that will, is for our society to sincerely turn back to Jesus Christ, and all that He stands for! Much LOVE!

…to Christ be the honour…to Christ be the glory…for all that He’s done for mankind… 

Hear our podcast at https://open.spotify.com/show/3aVfqIC1CqwGybISs9dZJ8