Welcome to “Friday Evening,” a Christian devotional for week’s end. This week’s “guest writer” is the late Rev. Paul Martin. He was one of the best “conversational writers” I have ever known. Today’s piece is from his excellent book, Get Up & Go, Beacon Hill Press, 1966. It reads like it was written yesterday. Enjoy. TB 

Get Excited

by Paul Martin

 

“Praise the Lord! Praise Him, O you servants of the Lord.”

(Psalm 135:1)

 

I’ll tell you right now, the Psalmist is excited in this psalm. He cries, “Praise the Lord,” ten times in twenty-one verses! Why should we be excited?

1. It is exciting to think about God as the Creator. “Whatsoever the Lord pleases He does. In heaven and in earth. In the seas and in all deep places.” (verse 6) 
2. It is exciting to think of God as present in every crisis. “He defeated many nations and slew mighty kings …and gave their land as a heritage, a heritage to Israel His people.” (verses 10-12)
3. It is exciting that man can talk to God, and that God talks to man. If you look for God’s delicate intervention in your affairs, you will see it. And sometimes, as Samuel Shoemaker says, “God is there flat-footed, sort of ‘barging in.’” What a precious privilege, talking with the living God!
4. It is exciting to know that God wins the victory over evil by love  ... not by might or power, but by the Spirit of love. But He wins! I see them continually—men and women, once slaves to sin, now free through Christ. Alive, happy trophies of His love!

Heavenly Father, it is so easy for me to get excited about things that have no eternal value. I get excited when my favorite team wins … when the sky is deep blue and the first hint of autumn is in the air ... when the stock market gains ... when I am served ice cream for dessert ... when the crepe myrtle I transplanted in the spring is covered with blossoms ... when our grandchildren send email messages to remind us that they love us ... when a sick friend recovers from an illness. Help me to rejoice when these things happen, but help me to get really excited when you talk to my heart, and my heart responds with the words of the Psalmist, “Praise the Lord.” Amen.