Morning Devotional
February 1, 2010

The Lord lives! Praise be to my Rock! Exalted be God my Savior! He is the God who avenges me, who subdues nations under me, who saves me from my enemies. You exalted me above my foes; from violent men you rescued me. Therefore I will praise you among the nations, O Lord; I will sing praises to your name. (Psalm 18:46-49 NIV).

David wrote the psalm from which our reading is taken today. As you can tell from the first lines, he WAS excited! By this point in the Psalm, he was putting exclamation points at the end of every sentence. He was singing praises to God! He was jumping up and down over the grace that had been shown to him! He was doing a little shoutin’! You can almost feel it as you read it.

This Psalm was written as a song that David sang to the Lord after God had delivered him from the hands of Saul. Through the Psalm, David recounts how God reached deep down into an awful situation to save him. He talks about dark clouds surrounding him and how he was in deep waters. Have you ever been there? I sure have! But, God brought him out of despair and took him to a spacious place of victory. Why? Because God delighted in David!

David tells about the flawless ways of the Lord and how there is nothing that God cannot do. He again tells of the tremendous hand of the Lord in His current situation, then as if having a sudden thought, David says, “The Lord lives! Praise be to my Rock! Exalted be God my Savior!” I assume David's melody has turned into a shout by this point. Those around Him must have looked surprised. David's face must have turned even redder with excitement. He must have felt His heart pumping furiously. There had to be a vibration in His voice. He was proclaiming the marvelous works of God! He was excited!

I must ask myself if I have that kind of excitement when I think of the many times that God has led me to victory. And I must ask you if you have that kind of excitement in your life about Jesus? Can you place exclamation points at the ends of your sentences? Can you shout for joy at what He has done or who He is in your life?

Let me say that today is the perfect day to get your excitement back. No matter what has happened, if you've lost that enthusiasm for the Lord, tell God you want to passionately seek Him. Tell Him you want to experience the fervor of knowing Him in your life again! Return to Him with all your heart and watch for the miracles. Review the blessings of life. Experience joy! Add a few exclamation points to your walk with God! Praise the Rock! The Lord Lives! Exalt His name!