One of the most underrated activities a follower of Jesus does is praise.
It’s an activity that when I come across it in scripture, I’m always struck by the time and detail the writer will go into defining and outlining it. There are times in life that praise is something done out of routine without that much thought. There are some settings where the invitation to praise is seen as a time to literally just say the words “praise God” or say “hallelujah” often followed by the sentiment that it is the highest praise even though it is just saying “praise God” in another language. I don’t decry or dismiss that. What I’ve learnt since then that an invitation to praise God is a massive opportunity.
This is where learning from children is brilliant. They don’t need a wide vocabulary, but give them enough words and they’ll rattle off sentiments of praise. They will remark on how good something is from the toy they get for a present to a film they enjoy watching. they won’t be reserved and limited in their expression. They will give it the whole hog and let you know beyond a shadow of a doubt how good the experience was. That degree of unbridled and uncensored joy is one of the elements of childhood that you distinctly see change as they get older and feel they need to be ‘cool’ by not being as effusive. Like it’s a sign of maturity to put your emotions and expressions in check. It’s a pity really.
It’s a pity because there is something thrilling about recalling what God has done and is doing and really unloading on Him the wide gamut of expressions of praise available. Praise in the dance, praise in the lifted hands, praise in the shouts and shrieks of unhindered delight. That’s not even beginning to touch on what we can do with the vocabulary at our disposal to let God know just how awesome He is. You don’t need to swallow a thesaurus to be equipped, your heart and mind has sufficient to express what He does and how He does it. And often such is the sheer focus and propulsion of your being in the practice of praise that the Spirit of God deepens that capacity to express praise to the glorious God over all creation.
In those times we invest in praise as well there is something real about seeing the benefit for our being investing it in something so enriching and purifying as taking our eyes from ourselves to the Great One. After a particular stint of praise, sometimes I catch myself wondering why I would grouch or complain. He is so good, He has done so many wonderful things, He is so awesome in all His ways, it’s just jarring to even entertain any sort of murmuring. Even the efforts of the evil one and his cronies to put you down seem laughable when compared to what God shares about Himself and who we are in the light of who He is. It’s almost as though every effort to distract us gives us another reason to praise God even more to establish His clear superiority over all circumstances.
Let there be no doubt, when we praise we divulge ourselves of any responsibility for the good we experience and we humbly acknowledge that the credit belongs elsewhere. That’s a very humbling thing to do and that is no bad thing at all. Praise reminds us that we are not the centre of the universe. Praise reminds us that we are not truly the master of all we survey. Praise celebrates the truth that we are the beneficiaries of the good done to us and for us by one for whom all praise is due.
Praise belongs to God and so the invitation to praise Him is another magnificent opportunity to let Him have it with full force.
We need to let Him have it.
(Photo by Rainier Ridao on Unsplash)
For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
C. L. J. Dryden
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