7. I will praise thee. From prayer to praise is never a long or difficult journey. Be sure that he who prays for holiness will one day praise for happiness. Shame having vanished, silence is broken, and the formerly silent person declares, “I will praise thee.” He cannot but promise praise while he seeks sanctification. Mark how well he knows upon what head to set the crown: I will praise thee. He would himself be praiseworthy, but he counts God alone worthy of praise. By the sorrow and shame of sin he measures his obligations to the Lord who would teach him the art of living so that he should clean escape from his former misery.
With uprightness of heart. His heart would be upright if the Lord would teach him, and then it should praise its teacher. There is such a thing as false and reigned praise, and this the Lord abhors; but there is no music like that which comes from a pure soul which stands in its integrity. Heart praise is required, uprightness in that heart, and teaching to make the heart upright. An upright heart is sure to bless the Lord, for grateful adoration is a part of its uprightness.
When I shall have learned thy righteous judgments. We must learn to praise, learn that we may praise, and praise when we have learned. If we are ever to learn, the Lord must teach us, and especially upon such a subject as his judgments, for they are a great deep. While these are passing before our eyes, and we are learning from them, we ought to praise God, for the original is not “when I have learned” but “in my learning.” While yet I am a scholar I will be a chorister.
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