Passwords are the bane of my llife. A good password should include capital letters, lower case letters, special characters and numbers and be between 8 and 12 characters long. It should not be easily associated with you (such as a birth date or name), but of course, what makes it difficult for someone else to guess (and therefore to hack your accounts) makes it equally difficult for you to remember!
Ps 89:15 in the Message version says, ‘Blessed are the people who know the passwords of praise’, which may suggest praising God requires the same kind of memory feats that computer passwords use! In truth, the NIV rendering of this verse (‘blessed are those who have learned to acclaim You‘) is probably nearer the mark. We learn to acclaim God (praise and celebrate Him) as we learn about His character and His deeds – a lifelong process. Psalm 89 is particularly good at listing reasons for praise: God’s love (verses 1, 14), His faithfulness (vs 1-2, 5, 8, 14, 30-37), His justice and righteousness (vs 14), His power (vs 8-13) and so on. These are all aspects of God’s character which we may not know automatically, but can learn, and therefore can become our pathway to praise.
The writer (Ethan the Ezrahite) declares blessing over those who learn to walk in God’s presence. Far from getting frustrated over keying in the wrong password (CAPSLOCK is on, the computer suggests helpfully as it denies access….), praising God is easy. It starts by speaking these truths to your soul and then you progress to speaking those truths aloud! Have a go and see for yourself the benefits of praising Him!
