The majority of Christians today loves the idea of going to church, fellowships and listening to the preachers ministering the word. However, we often find it more difficult to praise and worship God than we do to ask him for things.
It’s not like we don’t know why we should be doing that, but like we are just reluctant and bored to do it. In church with any regularity, we have heard our music ministers saying, “God inhabits the praises of his people”. Most of us could think that statement is nothing more than a way to get us to sing the praise choruses that so many of our churches use now, but it’s actually biblical.
The book of Psalms is the praise book of the Bible, and it gives us hundreds of reasons why praise is important, as well as examples of how to give praise to God. Therefore, today we’ll take a look at Psalms 135 and try to highlight some of the reasons we should be praising God for. This will guide us to pure praise.
It’s a Command
1Praise ye the Lord. Praise ye the name of the Lord; praise him, O ye servants of the Lord.’
Inasmuch as we hate dictated commands, to praise and God is one of them. However, it also comes with lots of encouragement, and exhortation. Praise is a vital part of a life surrendered to God, and it gives credit where credit is due.
It is good to praise God
3aPraise the Lord; for the Lord is good:
It is a true say that God is good all the times and for that, he’s worthy of our praise. He’s not a cosmic egotistical ogre, who demands worship from unwilling slaves, but a God full of goodness and love towards us.
Because It’s enjoyable
3b…sing praises unto his name; for it is pleasant.
We might not feel like it sometimes, but then the discipline of starting to pray and praise actually leads you into genuine prayer and praise. As the Anglican prayer put it: It is our duty and our joy… Many of us could also agree that the most enjoyable time during church services is the Praise and Worship session.
Because we have been chosen
4 For the Lord hath chosen Jacob unto himself, and Israel for his peculiar treasure.
Massive privilege comes with great responsibility. Christians have been chosen for a reason and to glorify and bless the name is part of it. Ephesians 1 v-4-6 also shed more light on that.
Because He’s worthy of it
Any other God we care to choose is second best in power to the Lord. But notice the way he uses that awesome power. He does whatever pleases him. (v6), but what pleases him is to show his love and mercy to his people, and his opposition to those who oppose them (v8-11). And he chooses to pour out His blessings on those who belong to him(v13).
Because the alternative is rubbish
15 The idols of the heathen are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands.
16 They have mouths, but they speak not; eyes have they, but they see not;
17 They have ears, but they hear not; neither is there any breath in their mouths.
18 They that make them are like unto them: so is every one that trusteth in them.
Notice how we become like what we worship. So if we worship an object, we become dehumanized. If we worship success, we become fleeting and shallow. If we worship ourselves, we will pass and die. But is we worship the Lord, we will become more like Him, as we grow in goodness, enduring forever.
