Psalms 34:1-3, “

I will bless the Lord at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth.

² My soul shall make her boast in the Lord: the humble shall hear thereof, and be glad.

³ O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together.”

Hey OTP family!!!

Today I just wanted to talk about choice. Making a choice… by definition choice is an act of selecting or making a decision when faced with two or more possibilities.

Every day we are given the opportunity to decide how we want our day to go. We can choose to be happier, sad, excited, melancholy, depressed, encouraged, discouraged, it goes on and on and on. I say it’s a choice because yes, some of these things come upon us when bad things happen are terrible things happen or even the worst happens but such as life the Bible says that time and chance happens to us all. That’s found in Ecclesiastes 9:11.

Because it’s something that happens to everybody, and of course everyone is going to choose to react in different ways. That brings us back to choice. Once we feel that initial impact of the thing that has happened to us or around us, we can then decide our reaction.

It is at this point we decide whether we’re going to allow this thing that has happened to impact our thought process, to impact our mood, or to impact the way we choose to react.

The writer psalms 34 provides us with a perfect example of choosing how to react. He starts by saying, “I will bless the Lord at all times”. This is a powerful and a significant statement because we all know that not every time in our life is a good time. In fact, most of the time in our life are tough, challenging, sad, and some even feel downright impossible. However, the writer is saying, in spite of all that I choose to approach it from the standpoint of “I’m gonna bless you, Lord, no matter what”. It is in giving God this blessing, this glory this honor, this praise that we release ourselves from the burdens that come from the times we are facing.

The writer then goes on further to say more than blessing the Lord at all times, I’m gonna make my boast in him. I’m gonna tell the world about how good He is, what He has done for me, and all the ways He has made for me. i’m gonna boast about my Lord! Doing this gives us the opportunity to give God’s résumé to all that will hear. If He did that then surely He can do this now. He made that way, He opened that door, He fixed that situation! So, what I’m facing right now I’m not gonna worry about it because God has my back.

The best part? He invites and encourages others to do the same. He tells them to “magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt his name together”. This praise, this blessing, this worship is not a spectator sport. Everyone can join in! Everyone can partake and everyone can choose to have a great day.

The great day comes from not dwelling on the times we are facing, but it comes from acknowledging the God we serve. Basking in his presence and allowing Him to feel the spaces in our heart and our mind where despair and discouragement would want to come in ruin our day.

I don’t know about you, but I agree with the Psalmist – I will bless the Lord at all times.

– I choose to have a better day than what the enemy wanted me to have. I

– I choose to switch my focus to God, and not away from him.

– I choose to allow him to come in and dwell in these spaces, taking the place of everything that the enemy has tried to do.

What about you? What is your choice?

Have a blessed day.