Session 13

I Will Sing Praise All My Life

From Join the Chorus!

“I will sing to the Lord as long as I live. I will praise my God to my last breath!” - Psalm 104:33

Psalm 104 is so wondrous, so poetic, and so very ordinary. Perhaps the psalmist, on a long walk, simply calls out what he sees: “Clouds! Birds! Donkeys! Sun! Moon!” He speaks artistically, even poetically, but his observations are ordinary all the same. 

Pastor and Bible translator Eugene Peterson once said, “Worship is an act that develops feelings for God, not a feeling for God that is expressed in an act of worship.” Often, we tie singing and celebration to a particular type of activity or environment. We sing a certain hymn. We play contemporary Christian music in the car. We stand and sing at church. 

But what if true and right worship is more ordinary, like when we exclaim the glory of God in whatever we are doing, whenever we are doing it? In those everyday moments when we just can’t help ourselves, we are most like the psalmist: “Sunset! Laundry! Walk to the mailbox! Car pickup line!” Everyday worship places glory-filled words on ordinary realities. When we praise God in the ordinary thing, the ordinary thing becomes an extraordinary act of worship. And in that moment, the pedestrian becomes poetry. 

Whether mechanic or mother, doctor or designer, assistant or administrator, practice praise with the psalmist today. Call out the ordinary things and thank God for them, quietly in your head or out loud. God is waiting and ready to rejoice with you.

“So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering.” - Romans 12:1 (MSG)