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“It is good to praise the Lord and make music to your name, O Lord Most High.” Psalm 92:1

After writing about gratitude for three weeks, it seemed the next logical topic should be praise.  Sincere thanksgiving leads us to praise God.  According to Bible Gateway, the word praise is in the NIV version of the Bible 363 times, with 182 of those in the Psalms.  The author of many of the Psalms, David, is known as a man after God’s heart (Acts 13:22).  David made a habit of praising God regardless of his circumstances.  This leads me to believe that praise is a necessary component of our relationship with our God.

Sometimes my praise of God is a bit too rote or routine.  All too often, my praise is a bit half-hearted and not heart-felt.  Praise is supposed to be about celebrating who God is.  It should call us into awe, reverence, wonder and even more gratitude.  In order to truly praise Him, I need to meditate on what His Word reveals about His character.   It calls for an investment of my time and energy.

Praise also calls me to humble recognition of what I am not.  I am not God even though I find it very easy to pretend that I am in charge of my life!  Praise gives me much needed perspective.

I took the time this week to think about praise a bit more.  None of my thoughts are terribly profound.  They are familiar truths, but I know sometimes I need reminders to jolt me out of what may have become rote or routine.  Maybe you do too!

Here is a list of a just a fraction of the multitude of praiseworthy characteristics of God.

• God is holy. Isaiah 6: 3 says, ““Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty. . .”  He is divine, without fault.  On my own merits, I am certainly not holy.  It is laughable to even think of me as holy!  However, through the death and resurrection of His son, He sees me (and you) as holy and calls us into communion with Him.  That is worthy of praise!

• God is love. Because of His holiness, His love is the only pure love in creation.  His love is unfailing and endures forever.  Romans 8:39 tells us that nothing can “separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  My love, however, is often fragile, fickle, and tainted with self-interest.  God, in His mercy, has given us a helper in the Holy Spirit so that we can slowly become capable of purer and purer love.  His love is praiseworthy!

• God is faithful. Psalm 36 tells us that His faithfulness reaches to the skies.  God makes promises and keeps them.  Despite my best intentions, I can be more flaky than faithful. What a comfort to know that His promise of eternal life through His Son is a sure thing and once again, is worthy of my praise.

• God is creator. God spoke all of creation into being (Genesis 1).  From nothing, He created all of the heavens and the earth.  He created each one of us.  Since we are all made in His image, we all have a bit of the Creator in us and this oozes out of us in creative ways.  I may be able (with His help!) to take a blank canvas and create a painting with different elements of His creation, but I have no power to create something out of nothing.  Our Creator is worthy of our praise!

I could keep on going with many more of God’s attributes, but I think you get the point!  It dawned on me that God is worthy of our praise simply because He Is.  In Exodus 3, Moses has a conversation with God at the burning bush.  He asks God what name His name is.  God responds, “I am who I am.”  He Is and His revelation of Himself to us through His Word are reason enough for all of us to spend the rest of eternity praising Him.

In the approaching Advent Season with all of the parties, pageants, and presents, I don’t want my praise to get lost or diminished.  As we celebrate the greatest demonstration of His love, the gift of His Son, I want to take the time to praise Him with a fresh sense awe and wonder and profound gratitude.   My prayer is that Psalm 146:2 becomes a reality for all of us: “I will praise the Lord all of my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.”

P.S.  My pre-Christmas sale is ongoing! [jetpack_subscription_form]