The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
"Why Praise?"
"An eternally and perfectly unselfish Being calls us to praise Him. God does not beckon our affirmation from any egotistical desire or need, but rather to be true to His sublime nature, and to our need to know Him as He is."
In hundreds of passages, the Bible calls us to praise God, including the universal invocation that closes what can be called the Book of praise, namely, the Psalms…
"Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord!" (Psalm 150:6).
Why is this so? Why does Scripture so often command our affirmation of God's merits? Eternity will not suffice in fully answering this question. However, we do well to first consider the nature and character of the One who calls us to praise Him.
"God is love… Charity (love) seeketh not her own… The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and give His life a ransom for many… He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father" (I John 4:8; I Corinthians 13:5; Matthew 20:28; John 14:9).
An eternally and perfectly unselfish Being calls us to praise Him. God does not beckon our affirmation from any egotistical desire or need, but rather to be true to His sublime nature, and to our need to know Him as He is. Our Lord does not require our praise, nor does He call us to affirm Him because He selfishly loves to hear Himself extolled. God rather knows Himself and the place He holds as the Creator, Sustainer, Lord, and Provider of all things (Genesis 1:1; Colossians 1:17; Isaiah 45:5; Psalm 145:16). His calling to praise Him, as directed from purely altruistic motives and purposes, involves our awareness that loving, trusting, and obeying Him occupies the central place in our hearts and lives. This pleases Him greatly because it means we know Him as He is, and ourselves as we are. "I will mention the lovingkindnesses of the Lord, and the praises of the Lord, according to all that the Lord hath bestowed on us, and the great goodness toward the house of Israel, which He hath bestowed on them according to His mercies, and according to the multitude of His lovingkindnesses" (Isaiah 63:7).
We have all likely known people who seem to crave the attention and affirmation of others. They do what they do to be acknowledged and praised. This does not apply to the living and true God of Scripture. He does what He does from the determination of revealing the glory of His sublime unselfishness of heart, mind, and purpose. He would have us to "know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge," and to praise Him as the expression of knowing who He is, and of our communicating such wonder to others (Ephesians 3:19). We greatly please and honor Him thereby, but we do not fulfill any need or egotistical desire in the God perfectly fulfilled in His own triune being of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Acts 17:25).
It is one thing to praise a selfish person. It it another to praise One in whom a selfish thought or notion has never once governed any action, attitude, word, or deed. If we have never considered that this is the God who calls us to praise Him, we do well to let the truth sink deeply into our hearts. If we do know such truth, we do well to let it sink ever more deeply. Nothing will more lead us to extol God's Person, Name, and work than this realization and remembrance. Indeed, in Heaven, when we fall before our Lord Jesus to praise and thank Him, the prints of nails upon His feet will more clearly present themselves to our field of vision, and to our hearts. We will then know so much better that praising God involves the affirmation of an unselfish goodness and greatness for which forever will not provide opportunity to fully extol. Little wonder the Psalms close by calling all with breath to use that breath for the glory of One so much more worthy of praise than even eternity will reveal…
"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."
(Psalm 145:7-9)
Weekly Memory Verse
And if any man think that he knoweth anything, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know.
(I Corinthians 8:2).
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