Praise

“Looking GOOD!”; “You did a fantastic job today”; “I love the color of your dress”; “You are pretty”; “You’re a nice person.”; “You are awesome!”  Praise is an expression of admiration (thought of highly), worship and thanks to God. We use praise in many forms for many ways, sometimes to show thanks, or to show attention, or even to be used in a false way.     Many of us praise ourselves; you can praise even yourself by thinking too much of yourself this will get you in trouble. Sure, we can get it, we want people to praise us, to like us, and to tell us how good we are and how good we look. But is this what God wants?  This happened with King Nebuchadnezzar, the same king who made a giant statue of himself and made everyone in the kingdom bow down to it, talk about an ego trip!  This is recounted in Daniel, the strang events in the king’s life. We will see how God threw Nebuchadnezzar’s pride down low; “The king spake, and said, Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty? While the word was in the king's mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, saying, O king Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken; The kingdom is departed from thee. And they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field: they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and seven times shall pass over thee, until thou know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will.” I think God was trying to make a big point here to ol King Neb who thought he was great and worthy to be praised. He was so high and mighty and then God Almighty told him his fate. “The same hour was the thing fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar: and he was driven from men, and did eat grass as oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hairs were grown like eagles' feathers, and his nails like birds' claws.” No doubt, ol king didn’t look like royalty anymore! He was a sight to behold and not a good one! His hair grew out unruly and long, his nails curled into claw like talons and he was eating grass. This man who once dined upon the fairest of meat in the world was now debased as a beast before mankind and before God. Nebuchadnezzar’s mind was troubled and tormented. And apparently this happened seven times! Let’s see if this changed Nebuchadnezzar, the worldly prideful king. “ And at the end of the days I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the most High, and I praised and honoured him that liveth for ever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation: And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou? At the same time my reason returned unto me; and for the glory of my kingdom, mine honour and brightness returned unto me; and my counsellors and my lords sought unto me; and I was established in my kingdom, and excellent majesty was added unto me. Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment: and those that walk in pride he is able to abase. Daniel 4:30-37.”  God can take our pride and the praise of ourselves and teach us a lesson we won’t forget. Whether it’s when we think we’re the fastest and we get beat, or when we think we look awesome and someone wears the same outfit. Praise is not to be given to ourselves from ourselves. “Boast not thyself of to morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth. Let another man praise thee, and not thine own mouth; a stranger, and not thine own lips. Proverbs 27:1-2.”  We shouldn’t praise ourselves, now we can be confident in the Lord but not trying to get praise from people. Today’s world is very focused on their public image, so much that their private life suffers, and their true self hardly takes shape and then they become unhappy and unfulfilled. We seek out likes instead of seeking for the only “like” that we should get through following the will of Christ.

I know when we think of praise; we, as Christians, think, “Oh this is a beautiful sentiment and I find it easy to do.” Really? When it all hits the fan? When the party is over and the whole parade of your life gets rained on by drama? I hope you can praise God, however most of us, may find it hard but it is doable and something to strive for. It truly is worthy of praising God.  Praise is hard to come by in a selfish world. Just like when tragedy befell Job, he had a choice to make, he could either trust God or curse God. We would say we wouldn’t blame him, he just lost his livelihood, his home, his health and his children in the span of a couple of days. Talk about a rough week! Yet Job’s wisdom gives us insight. “Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die. But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips.” Job 2:9-10. Job didn’t sin against God or curse God. Job wasn’t a perfect man but did understand that good things happen, and bad things happen. As Jesus tells us, “That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. Matthew 5:45.” We see many people in the scriptures who we believe are great examples of faith went through some very trying times and still praised the Lord during their storms and situations.  

People haven’t changed throughout history and just like the scriptures and today many people would rather tear down others than build them up. Just like Job’s wife and many other folks.  Even when people see great acts, they still find negative ways to tear down the act, this was done to God by the Israelites, “For all this they sinned still, and believed not for his wondrous works. Therefore their days did he consume in vanity, and their years in trouble. When he slew them, then they sought him: and they returned and enquired early after God. And they remembered that God was their rock, and the high God their redeemer. Nevertheless they did flatter him with their mouth, and they lied unto him with their tongues. For their heart was not right with him, neither were they stedfast in his covenant. But he, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not: yea, many a time turned he his anger away, and did not stir up all his wrath. For he remembered that they were but flesh; a wind that passeth away, and cometh not again. How oft did they provoke him in the wilderness, and grieve him in the desert! Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel. They remembered not his hand, nor the day when he delivered them from the enemy. Psalms 78:32-42.” You may think God was being cruel, but these people saw God overtake the Egyptians in all the plagues, lead them by a pillar of fire by night and a pillar of cloud by day, then God even fed them manna from Heaven and gave them water out of a rock. They praised God in the good times but in the bad times they bickered, belly ached and griped. No one remembers the good times in the hard times, but Israel should know that as long as they kept their eyes on God they would prosper. Just as Isaiah did even though he was in hard times; “O Lord, by these things men live, and in all these things is the life of my spirit: so, wilt thou recover me, and make me to live. Behold, for peace I had great bitterness: but thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption: for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back. For the grave cannot praise thee, death cannot celebrate thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth. The living, the living, he shall praise thee, as I do this day: the father to the children shall make known thy truth. The LORD was ready to save me: therefore, we will sing my songs to the stringed instruments all the days of our life in the house of the LORD. Isaiah 38:16-20.”  While many of us don’t think of singing or praising anyone or anything in the hard days, the trying days, the tiresome days, it is still needed, for our own good and for the ones around us as this selection tells us, “Psychologists tell us that the vividness of our memory depends on the stress of attention. Therefore, says St. Paul, ~if there be any virtue, if there be any praise, think on these things ~Leaves of Gold.” Even the Apostle Paul tells us to think on good things and use it as praise and honor, “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you. Philippians 4:8-9.”  Without praise, many would give up or think that what they are doing is useless and futile, God never does think this; however, it would be wrong to praise something or someone more than God, or not praise anyone at all for the wonderful work they have done. Jesus sure knew the feeling of not getting praised for His work, but set the example, even if you don’t get praised, do it anyways! “And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off: And they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed. And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, And fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan. And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine? There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger. And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole. Luke 17:12-19.” At times, you and I are the nine, we pray and pray to God for an answer and God does answer it but in a way, we are not looking for and we’re like, “BUT GOD, you PROMISED!” We pout and turn our attention elsewhere. Those nine were focused on the healing, not on the healer. We forget many times whom to thank for what we are doing and what we are capable of! The one leper however, shows us that praise is important, that it is noticed, and that it is done in humility, respect and honor. How can we praise the one who created us? In many ways! We can thank Him openly in front of others, we can count our blessings, not our blunders, we can do things that are pleasing to Him and walk in His ways. “By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name. But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased. Hebrews 13:15-16.” To fill our mouth with the things of God is truly a sacrifice, for we are putting down the gossip, the backstabbing, the dirty words and instead letting our tongues honor, glorify, and announce where our strength comes from.
 
Maybe you’ve had a hard day, and you cannot think of anything to be thankful for, ask God to remind you.  David had hard days, depressing long blue days filled with sorrow, fear, paranoia and worry but even then, he knew that those were just his feelings, not his true self; “I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them. How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee. Psalms 139:14-18.” God thinks a lot of you. He doesn’t make you for no reason, you have a purpose, and are given the opportunity to have a heavenly destiny. That’s enough to shout and sing about! Even Paul says that, “Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; Ephesians 5:19-20.”  I never heard Paul’s voice, it may have been glorious or it may have been worthy of a bucket, but he tells us to sing. Pick out a hymn, let it run through your mind, think about what it means to you, what it means to God. Praise isn’t just for the showing, it’s for the sowing.
 
Sometimes praise can be used as mocking and in the completely wrong sense. We can use it in sarcasm and in mean tones or we can use it to get a response we want, and not being honest. “For neither at any time used we flattering words, as ye know, nor a cloke of covetousness; God is witness: Nor of men sought we glory, neither of you, nor yet of others, when we might have been burdensome, as the apostles of Christ. But we were gentle among you, even as a nurse cherisheth her children: So being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you, not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because ye were dear unto us. 1 Thessalonians 2:5-8.”  We may use praise in a wrong way, we may even do it to God! Uh oh. You know the type and have done it yourself, ‘oh you look so good in that’, and you’re thinking, ‘she looks like she’s wearing a sofa’; guys you listen intently to other guys and you think, ‘man I’m glad I’m not him’, and then you follow it up with, ‘It’ll be okay man, just stay cool!” For there is no faithfulness in their mouth; their inward part is very wickedness; their throat is an open sepulchre; they flatter with their tongue. Psalms 5:9.” May we not use our praise in bad intents, for we are God’s children and need to be honest and build up, not tear down. Because one day we will all be shown our true character in front of God and everybody; “Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God. 1 Corinthians 4:5.”  If we want God to respect us we have to start by giving respect to others. As the Bible says; “Let brotherly love continue. Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. Hebrews 13:1-2.”  We never know who we are impacting with our words. Whether it be family, friends, or just people we meet on the street praise is hard to see because we live in a world full of critics, cynics and hard-to-impress people. Yet Moses wrote to the Israelites something that can apply to us today; “Love ye therefore the stranger: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt. Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God; him shalt thou serve, and to him shalt thou cleave, and swear by his name. He is thy praise, and he is thy God, that hath done for thee these great and terrible things, which thine eyes have seen. Deuteronomy 10:19-21.”  We are all strangers at some point to someone and yet people became our friends and family members and these people can be our biggest supporters with praise and love or our biggest enemies with hateful words and disappointments.

In fact, strangers who never met Jesus or saw Him at a distance loved him so that they put their reputation and their egos on the line to praise the Son of God. “And as he went, they spread their clothes in the way. And when he was come nigh, even now at the descent of the mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen; Saying, Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord: peace in heaven, and glory in the highest. And some of the Pharisees from among the multitude said unto him, Master, rebuke thy disciples. And he answered and said unto them, I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out. Luke 19:36-40.”  The religious people wanted Jesus to shut his followers up, but Jesus told them, if these people were silent the stones would cry out! How much the creation loved Jesus is hard to fathom, but Jesus didn’t ask for praise, but rather deserved it! He never demanded people to kneel in worship, but many did, and even washed his feet with their tears and used their coats as road coverings for the King of Kings.  While these people put their reputation and themselves on the line for Jesus, some people don’t for the risk of losing the praise of men. “These things said Esaias, when he saw his glory, and spake of him. Nevertheless among the chief rulers also many believed on him; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue: For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God. John 12:41-43.”  Even back in the day, many people believed in God but wouldn’t tell anybody for the fear of being ostracized, ridiculed and pointed out.
    
Maybe you are saying, okay, I know what praise is, but how do I do it, especially to God? He created everything and is so powerful, how do I tell someone like that thank you and give Him honor? Well, let’s look at David and what he did, “David's Psalm of praise. I will extol thee, my God, O king; and I will bless thy name for ever and ever. Every day will I bless thee; and I will praise thy name for ever and ever. Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable. One generation shall praise thy works to another, and shall declare thy mighty acts. I will speak of the glorious honour of thy majesty, and of thy wondrous works. And men shall speak of the might of thy terrible acts: and I will declare thy greatness. They shall abundantly utter the memory of thy great goodness, and shall sing of thy righteousness. The LORD is gracious, and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy. The LORD is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works. All thy works shall praise thee, O LORD; and thy saints shall bless thee. They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom, and talk of thy power; To make known to the sons of men his mighty acts, and the glorious majesty of his kingdom. Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and thy dominion endureth throughout all generations. Psalms 145:1-13.”  Beautiful words for a beautiful loving God. You may think, oh yeah he’s good with words, but that doesn’t matter, God just want you to be honest and be real with Him praise Him with your voice, your words,  your actions, your love for others,  your thoughts, there are many ways to praise that people don’t have to see and then there are ways where people can see.  Again, David writes to us, “Praise ye the LORD. Praise God in his sanctuary: praise him in the firmament of his power. Praise him for his mighty acts: praise him according to his excellent greatness. Praise him with the sound of the trumpet: praise him with the psaltery and harp. Praise him with the timbrel and dance: praise him with stringed instruments and organs. Praise him upon the loud cymbals: praise him upon the high sounding cymbals. Let every thing that hath breath praise the LORD. Praise ye the LORD. Psalms 150:1-6.” Give God praise each day because He gives you life, He gives you breath and strength to make it through each and every day. “David's Psalm of praise. I will extol thee, my God, O king; and I will bless thy name for ever and ever. Every day will I bless thee; and I will praise thy name for ever and ever. Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable. Psalms 145:1-3.” You may not play an instrument or be very good with words, but God doesn’t count ability, He counts our honesty and our devotion!

I myself do nothing. The Holy Spirit accomplishes all through me." -William Blake (1757 - 1827)

May we let others do the praising for us and may we all remember who earns the praise---God Almighty! No matter who you are, it’s God who gives you the power, so let’s give God the praise.