Praise is Pleasant

Hallelujah! How good it is to sing praises to our God, for praise is pleasant and lovely. Psalm 147:1

How good is it really to praise God? If the psalmist said it is a pleasant thing to do, we may ask, pleasant for who? For the praised or the one that praises, that is God or man? Singing praises comes from a grateful heart, it comes out of joy and deep appreciation of gift or service received. So, that is what makes praise pleasant, because it naturally comes from a place of joy and happiness. And so Christians should be God’s praise singers at every opportunity because God indeed gladdens our heart, and has given us an eternal gift of his son. He not only gave us his son, but he blesses us daily. He prepares a table before us, in the presence of our enemies, and his goodness and mercies shall follow us for all the days of our lives. You see why the Psalmist could see praise as a pleasant adventure? Because he understood the goodness of God, because it is only right to praise the one who blesses, cares, nurtures and protects his people. Praise is indeed pleasant.

Praising our God is not only a beautiful act of worship, but also an expression of our love for Him. When we raise our voices in praise and gratitude, we are demonstrating our devotion to God and forming a deep bond with Him. We acknowledge that God loved us first and sacrificed himself for us, and in doing so, we affirm Him as our ultimate king and ruler, the source of all blessings in our lives. Praising God fills our hearts with joy and helps us to better understand His greatness and love. It is indeed a wonderful thing to praise our God and to show our love for Him through worship and song.

When we praise God, we are recognizing His sovereignty over all things, and expressing our trust and reliance on Him. It is a declaration of faith and an acknowledgement of His power and grace. Our praise acts as an offering of thanks for all that He has done for us, and for all the blessings He continues to bestow upon us. By praising Him, we are expressing our gratitude for His love, mercy, and provision. Moreover, praising God has a profound impact on our own lives as well. It lifts our spirits, renews our hope, and brings peace to our hearts. It also helps us to cultivate a more positive outlook and attitude, and strengthens our faith. When we praise God, we are aligning our hearts and minds with His will and purpose, and allowing His love and light to shine brighter in our lives. 

Praising God is a powerful act of worship, and an expression of our love and gratitude for Him. It strengthens our relationship with God, brings joy to our hearts, and transforms our lives. Let us praise the Lord always, and give thanks to Him for all He has done and continues to do in our lives.

Now thank we all our God

Now thank we all our God,
With heart, and hands, and voices,
Who wondrous things hath done,
In whom His world rejoices;
Who from our mother’s arms
Hath blessed us on our way
With countless gifts of love,
And still is ours today.

O may this bounteous God
Through all our life be near us,
With ever joyful hearts
And blessed peace to cheer us;
And keep us in His grace,
And guide us when perplexed,
And free us from all ills
In this world and the next.

All praise and thanks to God
The Father now be given,
The Son, and Him who reigns
With them in highest heaven,
The one eternal God,
Whom earth and heaven adore;
For thus it was, is now,
And shall be evermore.

MARTIN RINCKART, 1588-1649

Lo, God Is Here!

Lo, God is here! let us adore,
And own how dreadful is this place; 
Let all within us feel His power, 
And silent bow before His face; 
Who know His power, His grace who prove, 
Serve Him with awe, with reverence love. 

Lo, God is here! Him day and night United choirs of angels sing; 
To Him, enthroned above all height, 
Heaven’s host their noblest praises bring; 
Disdain not, Lord, our meaner song, 
Who praise Thee with a stammering tongue. 

Being of beings, may our praise 
Thy courts with grateful fragrance fill; 
Still may we stand before Thy face,
Still hear and do Thy sovereign will; 
To Thee may all our thoughts arise, Ceaseless, accepted sacrifice. 

GERHARD TERSTEEGEN, 1897-1789

Victory through Praise

Come, O my soul, in sacred lays,
Attempt thy great Creator’s praise:
But, oh, what tongue call speak His fame!
What mortal verse can reach the theme!

Enthroned amid the radiant spheres,
He glory like a garment wears;
To form a robe of light divine,
Ten thousand suns around Him shine.

In all our Maker’s grand designs,
Omnipotence, with wisdom, shines;
His works, through all this wondrous frame,
Declare the glory of His Name.

Raised on devotion’s lofty wing,
Do thou, my soul, His glories sing;
And let His praise employ thy tongue,
Till listening worlds shall join the song!

THOMAS BLACKLOCK

Count the Stars

Sometimes in our own lives, we go through moments where it feels/looks like there will be no light at the end of the tunnel, as though our world is falling apart. The challenges of life which we all face can be so daunting that some people choose different ways to either cope with or deal with whatever situation they are in. Whether it is grief, pain, loss or whatever. In fact, some people accept their deplorable conditions sometimes and for good reasons too. When the physical evidence/fact is so convincing, how can you dare to believe otherwise? It is a difficult and a near impossible thing to do from the natural point of view. But for those who believe in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross and the impact the word of God has, there is often another way. The fact/evidence can always be weighed in relation to what the word says. Because whatever we go through, there is a word that God has spoken concerning such challenges or situations.

For example, James 5:13-15 says:

Is any one of you suffering? He should pray. Is anyone cheerful? He should sing praises. Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick. The Lord will raise him up…. (James 5:13-15)

When in suffering, pray; when you are cheerful, sing; when sick, call for elders to pray and you will be healed. There is that certainty that the Lord will do what he says he will do, but how often do we find the courage to believe! You see, God gives us a new frame of reference concerning any difficult situation and surely with regards to other life issues more of such can be sought out in the scriptures. A frame of reference is said to be a set of criteria or stated values in relation to which measurements or judgements can be made. For the believer, the word of God is the frame of reference. Every judgement or decision should be made with that as the bases.

Consider the man Abram, who had no child and both he and his wife had grown old to the point where they could no longer naturally bear children. But God changed their frame of reference from the natural using a natural phenomenon as a physical reminder – God asked him to count the stars. Basically, he gave them something else to consider. Abram was to count the stars if he could; because his offspring were going to be as much as the stars (Gen 15).

But how did this help Abram? Well, certainly it did because he believed and it was counted for him as righteousness. And I’d like to believe that Abram would go out in the night day after day to count the stars after he received that promise. He must have attempted to count the stars and realised it is was an impossible task. And this must have brought about renewed hope and joy at the thought of having that many children.

But what do stars have to do with babies? There was not a single “star” in Abram’s life yet and the situation naturally did not favour him. Yet he believed against the staggering odds and it was counted as righteousness. For Abram, there was no hope prior to God’s word to count the stars, hence accepted the fact/evidence that the servant will become the heir. But then God showed up and gave a word. Not just a word but a physical frame of reference too. Something that Abram could look up to every night to remind him of the promise. And eventually, he had Isaac, the child of promise.

You see, the difference between the fact/evidence is the word; what changes facts into other facts is the transcendental – the word of God, which is alive and is like a two-edged sword and capable of dividing asunder to the very soul. If we lift the word of God concerning any situation or fact/evidence, we obtain another frame of reference, another evidence that says, count the stars because even in childlessness, there are children, in sickness, pray and you will be healed; in joy, sing praises.

Your stars may be different depending on your circumstance, there could be the physical elements that you can look at and remind yourself that God had made a promise that can never go unfulfilled. Your stars could be a mental picture of what has been promised or a physical thing that helps you visualise what has been promised. It could be your blessings, as the popular hymn says; count your blessings and name them one by one and it will surprise you what the Lord has done. So, get in the habit of ‘counting your stars’ to obtain a new frame of reference while you are waiting on God.

 

 

KEEP PRAISING HIM

The hardest moment to praise,
Is when you are aching,
But that’s the perfect time to raise,
Praise to the ever-living king.

The hardest times are the times to raise,
All lips to the glory of Him,
Who raised Christ from the grave;
So that death had no power over him

That same power that raised his son,
If it dwells within, is able to give life,
To all mortal bodies under the sun,
That are redeemed by Christ the son.

Praising in the darkest hour is a mystery,
Hidden from them that are wise in this world
But given as a tool of victory,
To them that trust in the “foolishness” of his word.

When men praised in their impossible moments,
The seemingly insurmountable wall of Jericho fell flat,
When men praised in their prison cell,
Strong shackles were broken and they were set free.

When men praised in defiance of an earthly king,
Lions lacked the power to devour their body;
When men obeyed the wise king,
Even a hot furnace proved incapable of hurting;

The power of praise is everlasting,
It will do today what it did many years ago,
Because the one who promised is waiting,
For his children to apply this weapon with no ado.

When there seems to be no way out;
Praise is the only way out;
When there seems to be no end in sight;
Remember, praise is the means to an end, no doubt.