Praise
Praise
When our kids were little and received a gift, they would study it with appreciation and then turn away to examine another gift. I would typically say, “Hey, wait a minute! Aren’t you going to say ‘Thank you’?” Our son or daughter would look perplexed, as if to say, “Of course I am thankful. So why do I have to say it?”
In a way, they would be right. They were obviously grateful, and we knew it. Yet they needed to verbally express their gratitude — not because it was so good for the giver of the gift, but because it was so good for the recipient to learn to say thanks. In other words, when we come to God in prayer, it’s important that we say “thanks”, not because it’s so good for Him but because it’s so good for us. It’s a vital component to praise.
Evenso, the Lord wants our praise and worship not so much because it is good for Him, but, more especially, because it’s so good for us. Our act of worship doesn’t change the Lord; it changes us, re- aligning our priorities. We cannot worship Him without experiencing a transformation in our soul.
St. Paul once wrote
Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift." And what is that gift? His very own self! On the night of the Last Supper, our Lord said, "This is my body, this is my blood -- for you." It has often been said that "greater than any gift that the Giver can give is the presence of the Giver Himself in your life.
There are a lot of times in our life when we don’t feel like worshiping, when we don’t feel like praising God. We’re frequently surrounded by a righteous chorus of Christians chanting, “God is good. — All the time. — And all the time — God is good.” But we are uncertain. We might be inwardly convinced of the goodness of God. Yet, so many times, He doesn’t intervene to prevent bad things from happening. So we hesitate to join the jubilant chorus. Merlin Carothers, in his thoughtful book, From Prison to Praise, stated that the time we need to praise God the most is the time when we feel like it the least. Worship is more than a feeling; it’s a deliberate act.
I used to imagine that we praise the Lord whenever we feel joyful. Of course that implies that there are plenty of times when we cannot praise Him because we don’t happen to feel joyful. In other words, I concluded that first comes the feeling of joy, then comes the praise. In fact, it’s the other way around: First comes your intentional act of praise. Then comes the joy.
The 34th Psalm begins:
I will bless the Lord at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make her boast in the Lord: the humble shall hear thereof, and be glad. O magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt his name together.
