Praise the Lord

praise-the-lord

As a Christian, I have heard the phrase “Praise the Lord” sprinkled here and there. I would hear the phrase as a substitution to thank God after something positive happened. My understanding was that you praise God after receiving a blessing. It was not until this past week that I fully understood the significance of praising and my previous concept was shattered. This new revelation has changed my relationship with Christ and I have enjoyed getting to praise my wonderful God.

The Significance of Praise

Praising is the highest work that we can carry out for God. When we praise God, we transcend our everything (our situation, our feelings, our emotions) to touch Him. In Psalms 119:164 David tells us that he praised God seven times a day and in Psalms 55:17 he tells us that he prayed three times a day. This tells me that David saw the importance and power of praise. Prayer is the way for us to contact and absorb God. Praise is a sacrifice (Hebrews 13:15). I recently read something in my Bible study that has stuck with me and I hope I never forget it. It said, “When we praise God, we praise Him primarily for what He is or what He does, no matter whether or not we have received any benefits from Him.” A sacrifice implies loss, and praise becomes a sacrifice when we praise in the midst of loss. Our real offering to God is our praise even in negative situations.

The Moments to Praise

It is easy to praise God when something positive happens in our lives. Like when classes get cancelled because of “weather conditions” resulting in your exam getting rescheduled so you throw your arms up in the air and exclaim “PRAISE THE LORD!” There is absolutely nothing wrong with that but we need to consider if we praise God the same way when our situation may not be the greatest. Imagine it is a late night and after countless hours of working on a project and several cups of coffee later, you peel yourself out of your seat. The coffee has worn off, you should have been in bed a few hours ago, and you are still feeling the pain from leg day. You reach the door, step outside and immediately find out that it is pouring outside. You cannot call your roommate because your phone is dead and you do not have an umbrella so you begin your trek home. Do you imagine yourself praising the Lord right at that moment? I can tell you that my experience did not involve any praising as I trudged through the puddles on my way home.

We need to praise God despite our situations! God is constant. God remains on the throne. His name has not changed. His glory has not changed. We should not base our praising on our experiences but on the fact that He is worthy of praise! Our lives have highs and lows and we can go from being fervent for the Lord in one moment to forgetting Him. We must learn not to set our eyes on our situations and ourselves but rather to lift up our head and see that He is above everything. I wish I had this revelation earlier so that I could have spent my walk home that night praising God instead of bubbling over in frustration. My experience would have been sweeter and Christ would have gained a little piece of me in that experience.

The Practice of Praise

Even with this realization we may still struggle to praise God through the lows we encounter. Just like anything else in life, it takes practice. This past week I have been practicing my praising. I even wrote “Praise God” on the palm of my hand so I could see it when I pick up my phone and remember to do so. It is important for us to develop this habit because when we praise God we glorify God! God is enthroned upon our praises (Psalm 22:3) and He is worthy of our glory. It doesn’t matter if we feel like we are on the top of Mt. Zion or lying in the lowest pit. We should practice to praise God even in the little things and live a praising life simply because God is worthy of all praise.

By: J. Zambrano