All too often, a man’s mouth gives his heart away; for out of its abundance doth his mouth speak. What is in there is bound to make itself known!

Now it is indeed to be lamented that more of God’s people are not talking about the things of God. You meet them on the street and immediately the old, worn-out weather topic comes up or the recent road that is being put in, or the new house, or the new baby, or the new this, or the new that! But never anything new and fresh about the King of kings. One could much easier wring gasoline out of a tree trunk than he could squeeze a little fellowship or praise to God out of most Christians. Only a few days ago I had the opportunity of spending a few hours with a missionary brother; but try as I would, I could not get a word out of him in God’s favor; and yet he is supposed to be serving God here in Japan. Not a word to encourage me; not a word to show me that he had a spark of spiritual life in him; not a word to contribute toward more loving thoughts of Jesus. This kind of person knows how to drag his feet as you attempt to pull him down the praise road to God, but he won’t lift one little finger either to edify you or to praise God. However, find them at a meeting which they are leading and things are much different: they are all studied up and only too ready to share their notes with the anxious! When you accidentally bump into them on the street and ask, “What’s the word of the Lord today, brother?”, chances are it will take them five minutes to ramble around through the rubble of their thoughts in order to talk coherently about the King of kings. Eternity does not seem to be in a lot of Christian’s minds, because it takes them too long to find their equilibrium when asked about heaven. They are just not thinking on that track so that they are caught off guard when asked about a spiritual matter—never so when approached suddenly about some matter of this world! If you “Praise the Lord” in front of them, they will often give you a faraway, press-the-button smile, followed by, “Yes . . . praise the Lord.” But where is this response, this overflow, this abundant, this continual feast about which the Bible speaks so much? Evidently His praise is not in our mouths continually or every time we opened them it would come out!

We think most about what we love most, and in that precise order do they file out of our mouths and into our methods. We may want to toss a sop to our idolatrous consciences in the early morning, so we read the Bible a bit before the newspaper comes. Prayer? Oh, we can get that in just after breakfast. But away after ten o’clock at night, still no prayer, no praise, no talking with God, no secret communion, no life, no blessing. The circuitous road to the prayer closet is paved with the most wonderful intentions that have ever been thought up! Brother, to have His praise continually in your mouth, all the day long, you are going to have to be on the receiving end of a Divine bestowal! You are going to have to get something to praise Him for. And in the same token, to talk business, weather and what-not all the day long, you have to read the paper, listen to your radio, and keep up with the current events via TIME, LIFE, or NEWSWEEK. But you should never mix the two, fellow Christian: Divine events and current events are not synonymous terms.

My praising God all the day long must be preceded by a check-up on the sources of my daily topics, because the devil will try to see to it that I am fully supplied with the particular kind of materials conducive to cursing. Continual praise of God demands a continual Divine source from which to draw. If we are aloof from that position, we must retreat to it! If my source is consistent, my course will be determined.

If “All my springs are in thee,”
Then life is a doxology!

How simple, how wonderful, how real! If you would sing a perpetual doxology, you must abide in the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one praises the Father quite like the Eternal Son; He is the Fount of every blessing; He and only He can tune your hear to sing His Father’s praise. Streams of mercy will not cease to flow once He gains the throne room of your life: He will call for songs of loudest praise once you yield, and continually yield, all to Him.

A Fieldhouse Meditation