ISN'T IT INCREDIBLE THAT GOD CREATED US WITH THE ABILITY TO PRAISE HIM?

Today's promise: We are created in His image

Isn't it incredible that God created us with the ability to praise him?

But happy are those who have the God of Israel as their helper, whose hope is in the Lord their God.

Psalm 146:5 NLT

I'll praise my maker

I'll praise my Maker while I've breath;
And when my voice is lost in death.
Praise shall employ my nobler pow'rs;
My days of praise shall ne'er be past,
While life, and thought, and being last,
Or immortality endures.

Happy the man whose hopes rely
On Israel's God! He made the sky,
And earth, and sea, with all their train;
His truth for ever stands secure;
He saves the oppressed, He feeds the poor,
And none shall find His promise vain. I'll Praise My Maker While I've Breath (v1,2), ISAAC WATTS (1674-1748)

In Westminster Abbey stands a statue of Isaac Watts with a pen in his hand. Not far from Watts, John Wesley is also honored. This hymn has connections to both men.

As John Wesley lay dying, he surprised his friends gathered around his bedside by singing in a clear voice this hymn of Isaac Watts: "I'll praise my Maker while I've breath, and when my voice is lost in death, praise shall employ my nobler powers."

The next day he tried to sing the hymn again, but he could not. Two or three times he began, but could only say the words "I'll praise." That was all he could get out of his mouth. Then, with those words on his lips, he was ushered into glory.

adapted from The One Year® Book of Hymns by Mark Norton and Robert Brown, Tyndale House Publishers (1995), entry for February 27

Content is derived from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation and other publications of Tyndale Publishing House