In my reading in the Psalms, I came across something that I see fairly regularly. It involves a shift in the tense of a sentence. Here is the example I came across most recently, from Psalm 52:9:
I will praise you forever for what you have done;
in your name I will hope, for your name is good.
I will praise you in the presence of your Saints.
in your name I will hope, for your name is good.
I will praise you in the presence of your Saints.
In the first line, David promises to praise God forever (future tense) for what He has done (past tense).
Today, we find very few things that we are willing to remember forever (future tense), because of what they did in the past (past tense).
An almost key phrase for many people today is, “What have you done for me lately?” We always seem to be examining our relationships and our alliances to find a better deal, a better friend, a better opportunity.
Yet, I think David had it right. He recognized the importance of what God has done, and he realized that even if God never did another good thing for David as long as he lived, God deserved his praise forever.
Do we realize that’s true for us, as well? In our salvation, made possible by Jesus Christ and His death on the cross, we have something that will last for all time. And it is the best thing anyone could ever do for us. Perhaps the only thing with eternal significance. And for just that one thing, God deserves our praise forever.
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