Why Praise God?

Have you ever wondered why you should praise God? Sometimes as people we are so self absorbed and so earthly bound that we can't really think of a good reason to praise God. Frankly, we really don't even think about God enough to think about praising him. We are so human. We can't begin to imagine how foolish it is to miss God's greatness and therefore, forget to praise him.

In Psalm 100 we are told, "Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth. Serve Him with gladness; Come before Him with joyful singing." This is the duty or obligation of every person. Our attitude before God should be joy and gladness and it should come out of us through shouts and singing. It should come out of us in service to him. We should attend God as a servant attends a benevolent master, with gladness. We should bow before Him with a smile on our face. This is the essence praise.

But why? Why be joyful before God? Why be so overcome with gladness that we shout and sign in His presence? Verse three gives the answer. You praise God with shouts, gladness and singing simply because He is God and He made you. You did not make yourself. You and I, we are like sheep in His pasture. We are helpless without his presence. If God were not the shepherd in the field, we would be consumed by lions, grow sick and weak and be picked on and killed by the other sheep, or get lost and fall of a cliff to our deaths. He is God. He has the power to create life and protect it, and He created your life, and He watches over you.

You may say, "my life isn't great; the shepherd isn't doing so hot." My response: it is only God's hand that holds death at bay, that keeps you this very moment from plunging into the abyss. Sometimes the God who created us needs us to see that He is God, He needs us to know that we are weak and in need of Him. He needs us to grow weary of trying to make sense of our lives without Him so that we will turn to Him and enjoy the full blessings of His shepherding ways. Therefore, He gives us some room to roam, some freedom to discover, some opportunity to realize that without God, without His grace, life is a truly scary and dark thing. And when we turn back to this God and run into his fold, it will be with shouts of joy, bowing before Him with gladness and singing with our full voices the song of his redeeming love.

May it be so for you, oh doubter of his praiseworthiness.

Posted via email from Taking Heaven by Storm