Why Praise God?
I heard a famous person on TV say, I’m paraphrasing, “God is arrogant, anyone who demands I praise him is filled with pride, and I won’t do it!” Boy, does she ever have a wrong understanding of God. I thought this would be a good topic for us to explore and really see the reason behind the request from Jesus, who says,” Praise The Lord with all your heart, mind soul and strength.” (Mark 12:29-31). You see, it is because He knows there is a secret in praise. The effect of praising God blesses us! Think about this, when we praise someone, we have to think about them. We really have to take the time to know who the person is and what they have accomplished. As a simple example, think about when your child works really hard at something and then wins a reward for it, your filled with joy, and the result is you praise him/her. Your heart and his/hers is filled with love when this exchange happens.
When you praise someone, it’s because they have typically accomplished something so wonderful or extraordinary that you marvel at their accomplishment! I want you to think about the cause of that celebration, celebrating someone you love comes easily, doesn’t it? The closer you are to the person, the more you celebrate and want to praise them! Let’s take another example; you understand that it takes years of hard work for an Olympian to win a medal, days and years of training, hard work, and dedication well, what if that person was your child, or a sibling, or close friend? Wow, that day of celebration would live on throughout your life, wouldn’t it? You would tell the story over and over again!
Now think about our God but make it personal, think about Him as your God and Father and now just one characteristic of Him, let’s say Creator, the LORD made everything that exists! From the dust of the ground, He made man and breathed the breath of life into him and then fashioned woman from Adam’s rib so he would have a suitable partner.
The Creator made a perfect world where no sin existed. He blessed the man and woman and told them to go and have children, so they had a family, and He would have had perfect fellowship with them. They had everything they needed, and best of all, they walked and talked with the God of all creation! I certainly would be praising God for this, being in paradise with my God.
We know Adam and Eve sinned against God and purposefully ate of the one fruit that God warned them not to take and eat. You would think that God, the One who created them and gave them everything, would have just let them die in their sin, but No. He loved them so much that He made a way for them to have forgiveness and then provided a way for ALL of humanity to have complete forgiveness and restoration to a full and wonderful relationship with Him. God killed animals and covered Adam and Eve’s nakedness making clothes with the skins. Remember that there is no forgiveness of sin without the shedding of blood – the sinless blood atones for the guilty. Adam and Eve understood God forgave them through that sacrifice, so now they had experienced not only God the Father as Creator but as the One who made a way of forgiveness and so made restoration for them.
(But that’s another topic and another name of God – Redeemer, for another day.)
Well, can you see why from the beginning of time, God is worthy of praise? Look around, the blue sky, the sun, moon stars, oceans, a variety of animals of plants! I could go on and on… and why did He create all of this? For us! He created us so we would be able to have a relationship with Him, and when we understand how awesome He is, we worship and praise Him! Worship and praise are born out of an understanding of who God is and just how much He loves us. Throughout all of history, for thousands of years, He has never stopped working on our behalf, and He never will!
Here’s a secret though, when we worship and praise God, His presence becomes so tangible and overwhelming that we lose sight of the worries of this world, and joy unspeakable fills our hearts and minds. We are then set free from the things of this world, realizing our Father, our Creator loves us and will care for us more than the beautiful lilies of the field that He created for us to enjoy! He is for us, always. He loves us with a love so deep and wide nothing can separate us from that love. So when we draw near and begin to just say, Thank you Lord God for all you have done for me we enter into praise and enter into the secret place of the Most High, the heavenly realm where we experience God Himself and praise just pours out, He is there with us as He was with Adam and Eve walking and talking with us! Of how wonderful, how exquisite He is, the lover of our soul! Yes, I will praise Him all the days of my life because He gave everything for me. I hope and pray that one day the celebrity I wrote about in the beginning comes to truly know the One true God, who knows her and loves her!
Enjoy praising and worshipping your God today, and be filled with His very presence!