Praise

My thoughts take me today to the subject of the praise of God. True to form, let’s begin with defining the word praise.

Praise – To tell, proclaim, or commend the worth, excellence, or merits of.

Whenever we say or sing about how great God is or what great things He does, we are praising God by definition.

Since God’s greatness is unsearchable, we will never be able to give God all the praise that He deserves. The Psalmist asks:

Psalms 106:2 Who can utter the mighty acts of the LORD? who can shew forth all his praise?

Of course, no one can show forth all God’s praise because it is so much greater than we are. But we can at least show forth some of His praise.

God’s reason for saving your soul was that you might show forth His praises. Praising the Lord is an effect of God’s saving grace in our lives.

Ephesians 1: 11-12 In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will: That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.

1 Peter 2:9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:

That being the case, one of the surest ways you can know you are saved is to proclaim the praises of your God. Then you can reason from the effect, showing forth God’s praises, to the cause, the salvation of your soul.

Praising God is a blessing itself. We can only do it, if God lets us. That is why we read prayers like this in the Bible.

Psalms 67:3 Let the people praise thee, O God; let all the people praise thee.

Psalm 67:5 Let the people praise thee, O God; let all the people praise thee.

Psalms 71: 8 Let my mouth be filled with thy praise and with thy honour all the day.

I am sure you have asked God to let you do many things. Have you ever asked Him to let you praise Him? That is a good prayer to take to church.

How sad it is that we spend more time whining and complaining than we do praising our wonderful God. We would do well to imitate the Psalmist David, who said:

Psalms 34:1 I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth.

Instead of always complaining about how bad you feel and about how bad your life is, try talking more about how great and good God is. You will be surprised what that will do for you. In fact, consider this verse:

Psalms 147:1 Praise ye the LORD: for it is good to sing praises unto our God; for it is pleasant; and praise is comely.

Praising God is good. It is just plain a good thing to do and we all feel better when we do something good. Praising God is pleasant. Something that is pleasant has the quality of giving pleasure. Praise will bring you pleasure and that will offset your misery. It is also comely. The word comely means suitable or beautiful. Praise will make you a more beautiful person. Now who of us would not welcome being better, having more pleasure, and being more becoming? It is no wonder that “the garment of praise” is placed in contrast to “the spirit of heaviness” in Isaiah 61:3. If you are feeling heavy today, start telling your God how great and how good He is. Start singing songs like “How Great Thou Art,” “Great Is Thy Faithfulness,” “Holy, Holy, Holy, or “The Lord Is My Light.” Watch how that will lift your mood and make you a lovelier person to be around.

If you have not been praising God as you should, ask God to forgive you and then ask Him to let you praise Him. Then just set your heart to do it.

Psalms 57:7 My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed: I will sing and give praise.

If you are truly praising God, you have God in your life because He inhabits the praises of His people.

PSA 22:3 But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.

So begin praising the Lord today. Keep it up everyday. If you are a child of God, it is what you will be doing for all eternity.

Psalms 145:2 Every day will I bless thee; and I will praise thy name for ever and ever.

Endless Books

While attending a conference in Indiana last week I had an opportunity to become better acquainted with one of the speakers, Dr. Larry Lilly. Dr. Lilly is a well-read man and made several recommendations of good books to read. Upon returning home I was struck with how much there is to read and how pressed I am for time to just read. I have so many books in my library that I have not read as yet and some that I could stand to reread. And yet people recommend more or give me more to read. And this is to say nothing of all that can be read nowadays on the internet. I am reminded of Solomon’s words:

Ecclesiastes 12:12 … of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh.

I once took some drawing classes with my wife. I was impressed with the fact that there was so much to learn in the study of art. There are so many different kinds of art. There are so many things to draw or paint and so many different ways to draw or paint them. In fact, one could say that the possibilities for artistic expression are limitless. And this is true of all departments of learning. There is no end to the mathematical calculations that can be made. There is no limit to how many stories or poems can be written. The number of tunes and songs that can be written is inexhaustible. There is no end to the number and variations of scientific experiments that can be conducted. When one comes to the knowledge of the Bible, what can be learned from the Holy Scriptures is unsearchable. There is no limit to the different sermons that can be preached from the Bible or the books that can be written about it. Considering that books are written about all these branches of knowledge and more, it is no wonder then that “of making of many books there is no end.”

All branches of knowledge have their ultimate origin in God. He is the author of all language, mathematics, science, art, music, etc. All the wealth of information that can be explored and developed in every field of study comes forth from God as the following passages declare.

1 Chronicles 29:11 Thine, O LORD, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O LORD, and thou art exalted as head above all.
12 Both riches and honour come of thee, and thou reignest over all; and in thine hand is power and might; and in thine hand it is to make great, and to give strength unto all.

Psalms 104:24 O LORD, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches.

Proverbs 2:6 For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.

Romans 11:36 For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.

The fact that we cannot fathom any given field of learning points to the fact that our God, the source of all knowledge, is Himself unfathomable.

Romans 11:33 O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!

Our ability to fathom the depths of any branch of knowledge is restricted by our finiteness. Our life in this earth is simply too short and our capacity too limited to ever know all there is to know about whatever field of knowledge we choose to study. We can study and learn only so long and then weariness sets in. Our brain just will not cooperate and we must take a break.

Speaking for myself, I am a person that has a tremendous craving for knowledge. I want to know so much more. I love languages. I wish I could learn and speak them all. I wish I were more proficient with the ones I have learned. There are so many books I would like to devour, so many fields of knowledge I would like to explore. But, alas, I am limited in time and capacity. Demands are made upon my time and these demands interfere with study. I would like to discover so many things before I die. At times I feel overwhelmed by it all. And this is where I was the other day, when a thought occurred to me. It is the thought that gave rise to today’s meditation. And that is the thought that God in His wonderful, saving grace has given us eternal life. Beloved, we shall have all eternity to explore the riches of God. Even there we shall never exhaust all there is to learn. But we will have an eternity to explore it. We shall never reach the end of it. There will always be more and new and exciting things to learn. We will never be bored. We will never become weary. We will always be enthusiastic learners without being anxious or annoyed in the process. I am looking forward to it. Are you? By God’s grace I am still eager to learn.