I Want to Leave a Legacy

Today, I was reading in Psalm 13. It began with David speaking—he was petitioning God for help. It wasn’t a long psalm, in fact, it was only six verses. But as I read carefully through, trying to pick something out as my daily nugget, I just wasn’t finding anything in those first verses. But I kept on, because over the past several years of my life, I have become very acquainted with this shepherd/king’s style of writing. I’ve always been impressed with David because I know that when he writes about his hardships, he always ends them with praise to God. So, as I was reading this handful of verses, I was expectantly waiting for the last few where he poured out his praise to God. I was not disappointed. As I expected, he talked about not losing hope because he was trusting in God’s mercy, rejoicing in His salvation, and counting the blessings He had given him.

David lived thousands of years ago. But he has left behind such a powerful, powerful legacy for me, and for countless other Christians to follow. What kind of legacy do I have? I certainly do have troubles, things that can make me say, “how long, O Lord?” (Psalm 13:1) like David did. Sometimes I tell other people about those troubles. Sometimes I tell God about them. But when my sisters, my friends, or the Lord are patiently listening to my mournful sagas, do they expectantly wait for the praise that will flow from my mouth? Can they expect me to switch my distress and questioning that I feel into happiness because I am reminding myself of God’s mercy, His salvation, His goodness, His help, His comfort… (This list goes on and on) that He gives me?

The above list is very long, but how often do I use it? Well, I can pretty easily use it every morning after I’ve finished reading my Bible, wherein lies David’s simple, but beautiful praise to God. When my heart is uplifted and basking in God’s love, I praise Him. But while I’m going through my Bible reading, I have no trials. I’m reading about all the amazing things that happen in it. It’s later on in the day when the frustrations, the arguments, the impatience and the problems come. Then it’s terribly easy to forget about all those amazing things, and to mourn and complain when the bad bashes you and thrusts you down.

So my question is: What kind of attitude results when we feel weighed down by certain things? I pray fervently that I will learn to add praise at the end. To always, without fail, add praise. Like David, that is the legacy I want to leave.








** I Want to Leave a Legacy is a song by Nicole Nordeman. The reason I named this after her song is because I wanted to remember this stuff every time I sing the song in my head.