“I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth.”
Psalm 34:1

I read these words and my first thought was, “Were that it were so!”

David’s resolve is bold: to bless the Lord at all times, to have His praise continually on his lips. But if I’m honest, that’s not the song on repeat in my life. My lips are often filled with other things—complaints, anxieties, frustrations, and the occasional sarcastic remark (sometimes even funny ones). Praise is there, yes, but not continually.

And that’s the sting of this verse. It reminds me of what should be true, while exposing what often is true.

But maybe that’s the point.

David penned this psalm after one of the lowest, strangest moments in his life—pretending to be insane before Abimelech just to escape with his skin (1 Samuel 21). Not exactly a mountaintop experience of victory. And yet, from that place of humiliation, he says, “I will bless the Lord at all times.” Even here. Even now.

That’s where this verse begins to reshape me. Praise is not something reserved for the sunny days when everything clicks. Praise is meant for the shadows too—for the hospital waiting room, for the sleepless night, for the moment when your strength is gone and all you can do is groan. Why? Because God Himself doesn’t change.

Think of the reasons you and I have to bless the Lord:

• His character—steadfast love, perfect justice, unchanging faithfulness.
• His work of redemption—Christ crucified and risen, sins forgiven, death defeated.
• His daily mercies—breath in our lungs, bread on the table, the Spirit dwelling within us.

These reasons don’t come and go with the weather. They are continual. Which means our praise should be, too.

Now, let’s be clear: this is not a call to fake it. God doesn’t need our plastic smiles and forced hallelujahs. But it is a call to reorient our speech, to let praise set the direction—even when we don’t get it perfect. The goal isn’t perfection of praise, but direction of praise.

So here’s the encouragement: start small. Begin and end your day with a simple word of thanks. When you feel a complaint bubbling up, pause and see if you can turn it into gratitude. Open the Psalms and borrow their words when yours feel weak. And trust that God, by His Spirit, will keep tuning your heart so that His praise will be more and more in your mouth—until the day it will be so, perfectly, in glory.

“Were that it were so.” Someday, it will be. And even now, by grace, it can be more than it is.

SDG