When do you praise God? We read Psalm 148 at church a few weeks ago – a reading full of praising God. These verses invited me to pause and ponder the practice of praising.
Psalm 148 stresses praising God in all sorts of circumstances. Praising God for all the wonders and gifts of life and praising God in both the joys and the challenges. Pay attention, stay awake, look, observe – there is so many ways to praise God.
I smile at verse 7-8: “Praise the Lord from the earth, you sea monsters and all deeps; fire and hail, snow and fog, tempestuous wind, doing God’s will.”
I am sure I haven’t praise God for sea monsters, fire, hail, snow, fog, and tempestuous winds. Ha
Winter is my least favorite season. I was whining a few weeks ago about the colder temps and snow predictions when someone reminded me of the quote about Joy: “If you choose not to find joy in the snow, you will have less joy in your life but still the same amount of snow.”
So true!
In life we will still have sea monsters, fire and hail, snow and fog and tempestuous winds, we may as well praise God, right?
What is praise?
Praise is showing reverence to God. Like the humble subjects of a king, we bow before our Lord by joyfully expressing His goodness and glory.
We acknowledge God alone is worthy of our worship. We acknowledge our Holy God deserves our adoration.
The Hebrew word for praise is found throughout the Bible and is the word Hallel meaning to shine, to glorify. The word “Hallelujah” comes from this base word and is a primary root word for praise in the Hebrew language.
The word “praise” occurs 207 times in the New American Standard Bible (NASB). It occurs more times in the book of Psalms than in any other book – 100 times. The book is filled with praises.
The Hebrew word that is translated as “praise” can mean “to acknowledge . . . God’s character and works.” To praise God is to declare who God is and what He does. Praise honors God because of His divine deeds and character and his promises.
I find I often mix up praise and thanksgiving. Many times, I am saying what I am grateful for with God than actually praising. It helps to remember that:
Thanksgiving focuses on benefits bestowed to us. When we thank someone, it’s because we have something we appreciate which has been a blessing for us. We have benefited and we want to let others know we appreciate it.
So where is the focus? Whatever we are thankful for, we are grateful because of a blessing brought to us. The focus is on US.
Praise focuses on the character of God and our love for Him. We praise Him for His character, His attributes, and His abilities. We thank God for what he does or gives us; we praise God for who he is. The focus is on God.
We praise God for God’s sake and as I consider this, I realized certain time triggers reminded me to praise. The beginnings and endings of any chapter in life is a perfect time to bookmark that moment with praise. What a neat pattern to follow and practice.
Why this structure? When the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to prayer, Jesus taught them what we call the Lord’s prayer. Jesus’s pattern to pray began and ended with praise.
Our Father who is in heaven; hallowed be your name…For thine is the kingdom, The power, and the glory, forever and ever amen.
Praise at the beginning and the ending, just like Jesus did. Praise at every ending and new beginning.
- Year
- Month
- Day
- New chapter in your life
- new job
- New semester
- new location
- new relationship
- new diagnosis
- new ache or pain or loss
Surround each circumstance in life in praise. Of course, we can praise anytime, especially in the present moment.
Reminded me of the Jewish blessing called the Shehechiyanu blessing is said whenever we realize the miracle of the present moment
These words of praise go like this:
“Blessed are You Eternal Spirit who has given us life, sustained us and allowed us to arrive in this moment.”
A beautiful prayer of praise that can be tucked into our hearts for any time of honoring God.
The practice of praise is powerful and one I know I want to work on as this new year begins.
How about you? Any insights into praise you want to add to this rambling discussion?
Praising God right now!!!!! He is worthy of all of who we are.
I love the idea of marking beginnings and endings with a prayer of praise, drawing our attention to still more of God’s good gifts. I’m thinking of such new beginnings as a new journal, a new book, a new Bible study, a new set of paints or pencils, a new craft project, etc. Endings might include the satisfactory of finishing something we started, the lessons learned along the way, the joys experienced. The list could surely grow very long, proving that our lives are full of satisfaction and delightful blessings! Thank you, Jean!
I loved the Hebrew prayer, Jean! Let us remember that as important as it is to thank God, we must equally praise Him for all He has done and will continue to do in our lives.
Fear not! I will be reading and reviewing your new book sometime in February. I’ve just not been reading as much as usual these days, and I’m really looking forward to delving into yours.
Blessings!
thank you jean…youre not rambling..youre just helping your fellow beggars where to find food and share it…ive never understood abt praising God beyond a kindergarten level…way down its the voice of an ignorant..”why should i praise someone who lets bad things happen”…but Holy Spirit is teaching me…
peace.