Waking Up Your Heart

A Thursday Thrive

My heart is confident in you, 
O God; my heart is confident. 
No wonder I can sing your praises! 
Wake up, my heart! 
Wake up, O lyre and harp! 
I will wake the dawn with my song. 
I will thank you, Lord, among all the people. 
I will sing your praises among the nations.
- Psalm 57:7-9 NLT

The Psalmist stands in confidence in God. His heart confirms that. A strong confidence that leads to praise. Why? Because praise is the natural response to our confidence in God. When we are confident in God, we can praise him unrestrained. We do not have any doubts to hinder us.

Yet, the Psalmist exhorts his heart to “wake up.” This seems almost like a contradiction. However, the wake-up call is not to realize this confidence in God. It is to declare it to others.

This points to two spiritual practices that are integral to our spiritual formation: community and witness.

We need to share within the community of faith!

God has created us to be involved in a community of faith. We are not created to praise God alone. We are not created to just attend a service of worship and praise and then go to our homes. We are not created to sit in our living rooms and watch worship on TV. We need community to assist us in our spiritual formation. In community we can both encourage others and be encouraged by them. No matter what level of confidence we have in God, we need to share it with others. If we have bold confidence like the Psalmist, as we give praise God, those with whom we are in community with will benefit from our sharing.  It will be an encouragement and inspiration to them. If we are struggling with confidence, others can help us along our faith journey as they share their confidence in God. Either way, we need our hearts to “wake up” and declare to others where we are in our spiritual journey.

We need to share outside the community of faith!

The Psalmist declares that he will thank God in front of all people - he will sing praises to God among the nations. We often think that the only way we can do this is to “dump the whole load on them.” We have somehow come to the idea that if we do not share the full Gospel message, we have not been effective in our witness. The Psalmist has the right idea concerning our witness. He says that he will simply thank God and sing his praises before all people. When we publically praise God, we bring honor to him. When we display our confidence in him before others, he is glorified. We do not always have to explain how to be saved. We simply must be sensitive to Holy Spirit to share what we are led to share in that moment.

Three crucial questions.

1. How does your heart need to “wake up?”

2. Where are you singing God’s praises?

3. Where do you need to start singing God’s praises?

May you be an encouragement and a witness to others as you share your confidence in our marvelous Savior. Never underestimate the Gospel seeds that are sewn by simply giving God the glory.