Bragging- The Only Good Kind

My mouth is filled with your praise,
    declaring your splendor all day long.

My mouth will tell of your righteous deeds,
    of your saving acts all day long—
    though I know not how to relate them all.

I will come and proclaim your mighty acts, Sovereign Lord;
    I will proclaim your righteous deeds, yours alone.

Since my youth, God, you have taught me,
    and to this day I declare your marvelous deeds.

My tongue will tell of your righteous acts all day long,
    for those who wanted to harm me
have been put to shame and confusion.

~Psalms 71:8, 15-17, 24

Psalms 71 is one of my favorite chapters. I have a bunch of markings all over it. 

I’ve underlined so much- and circled phrases that stood out to me.

[Side Note: If you want to start reading your Bible, but don’t know where to start, try Psalms. It’s so relatable.]

So anyways, I’ve read this chapter dozens of times and this time, I learned something new. Those verses stood out to me, not because they were underlined or circled, but because they all talk about God-bragging. Each verse boasts about God’s splendor, righteousness, salvation, mighty acts, marvelous deeds, etc.

God-bragging.

We know that bragging about ourselves is not very classy, but bragging about God?... Oh, it’s more than classy!

Did you know that we’re actually supposed to brag about God?

God says in Jeremiah 9:24, “If you brag, brag of this and this only: That you understand and know me. I’m God, and I act in loyal love. I do what’s right and set things right and fair, and delight in those who do the same things. These are my trademarks.”

He wants us to brag about Him, 

praise Him, 

and thank Him 

for all He is, 

all He’s done, 

and all He will do.

Praise Him for His loyalty, His righteousness, His amazing acts. 

Don’t you think He’s deserving?

He saved you from yourself. Brag about Him.

He redeemed and freed you. Brag about Him. 

He picked you up and carried you. Brag about Him.

He healed you. Brag about Him.

He called you by name. Brag about Him.

“Because of God you are in Christ Jesus, 

who has become for us wisdom from God. 

In Christ we are put right with God, and have been made holy, 

and have been set free from sin. So, as the Scripture says, 

‘If people want to brag, they should brag only about the Lord.’” 

~1 Corinthians 1:30-31

A Confession: I Have a Favorite Word

I have a favorite word. I’m sure this makes me a little/a lot nerdy. But, oh well.

It’s not a really cool or crazy word. It doesn’t have a lot of letters. It’s not even a loved one’s name or anything like that.

It’s a word of hope. It promises that awful things will not end like that. It brings change. It’s beauty from ashes, treasure from trash. It’s optimistic and pure and sacred. It’s the belief that something good can come from even the scariest of things. Light, when the darkness seems to continue forever. 

It’s redemption.

Yes, that’s my favorite word. 

God redeemed my worthless self, saying, “Daughter, you are not worthless. I have a purpose for you, a job only you can do.” 

Jesus redeemed me, saying, “Child, you don’t have to be bound to this life of sin and despair and loneliness. I’ve got garments of gladness and praise.” 

The Holy Spirit redeems me, saying, “Friend, you will never walk alone.”

There is a quote I LOVE, and it talks about redemption. It’s in the book Cold Tangerines by Shauna Niequist. The book, is somewhere in my house. I just can’t find it. It seems the books are taking over my room at this current moment. Anyways, I found another quote, also by Shauna Niequist in her second book Bittersweet. Both are great reads.

So the quote:

“I believe that God is making all things new. I believe that Christ overcame death and that pattern is apparent through life and history: life from death, water from a stone, redemption from failure, connection from alienation. I believe that suffering is part of the narrative, and that nothing really good gets built when everything’s easy.”

This beautiful quote is redemption in a nutshell. 

Yes, God is making all things new. Even me. Even you. 

Yes, Christ overcame death, a perfect picture of redemption. 

And yes, sometimes things have to feel pretty bad before they get better. 

Change sometimes causes pain. Pain is sometimes good.

Pain sometimes means growth. And growth, it is very good.

I'll make a list of God's gracious dealings, all the things God has done that need praising, All the generous bounties of God, his great goodness to the family of Israel— 

Compassion lavished, love extravagant. 

He said, "Without question these are my people, children who would never betray me." 

So he became their Savior. In all their troubles, he was troubled, too. 

He didn't send someone else to help them. He did it himself, in person. 

Out of his own love and pity he redeemed them. 

He rescued them and carried them along for a long, long time.

~Isaiah 63: 7-9

Desperation

I recognize that Satan has a plan, a plan to bring me down. I know that He will use whatever he can to suffocate me, blocking God’s plan for my life. He may even try to use my own thoughts against me; in fact, he usually uses my thoughts against me.

I sometimes consider myself a loner in the sense that I’m not always sitting with tons of people, gossiping about the latest buzz. I actually prefer to have time to be alone with my thoughts. And God’s presence. 

However, in those moments, it wasn't God's peace I was feeling. It was un-peace and hopelessness;  I wasn't growing. I felt desperate. I felt like I wasn't good enough to be used by God, like I wasn't popular or funny or outgoing enough to fulfill His plan. I felt like no matter how hard I prayed, He didn't hear me!

But I’m done with that now. I’m done with the pity party.

I’m done trying to plan my future on my own. I’m done with the hopelessness and loneliness. I am putting on that garment of praise. I’m lifting up my hands, surrendering my complete self to God.

I’m listening to sermons. I’m reading the Word. I’m only listening to Jesus music.

Why?

Because I’m desperate. Because I’ll do whatever it takes to hear from God. 

Because I NEED to hear from God.

I will give them a crown to replace their ashes, and the oil of gladness to replace their sorrow, and clothes of praise to replace their spirit of sadness. Then they will be called Trees of Goodness, trees planted by the Lord to show his greatness.

          ~ Isaiah 61:3 NCV