04/26/2024
Joyous praise, is it absent in your life and church? As I read my morning devotional today I realized the even in the nineteenth and early twentieth century lifetime of E.M. Bounds there was a lack of praise in many churches. He wrote of the praise and incense that infused the early churches and how vital this was to projecting the gospel and winning souls. Bounds was right, God is worthy of our joy and praise, and yet God is complex in His nature, and churches should espouse the serious study of His Word, the gospel of Jesus Christ, and the width and breadth of their nature, through serious worship. We should not abandon one for the sake of the other.
“Praise waiteth for thee, O God, in Zion: and unto thee shall the vow be performed. O thou that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come.”
Psalms 65:1-2 KJV
When I was young I attended many churches as I moved around the country and world. I witnessed churches that were steeped in liturgy, churches that were focused on dry and solemn sermons, churches that forsook praise for teaching, and churches of structure from which there was never any varying, but when I was a young adult I found a church where praising God infused the singing, the teaching, and where the very way that the congregation worshiped and lived was filled with a love for God. This is where I made my church home, not in a church that praised and worshiped one facet of God, but in a church that praised Him in His complexity and recognized His worthiness in all aspects of His nature and character.
“Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands. Serve the Lord with gladness: come before his presence with singing. Know ye that the Lord he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.”
Psalms 100:1-4 KJV
When we praise the Lord in our worship and prayer then magnificent things occur... God infuses our lives, comes to us in relationship, and our happiness in serving Him anoints us as if it were an oil. Jesus doesn't want to lead a funeral march into heaven, He wants to lead a church (His bride) in a joyful reunion. The return of Jesus Christ will be cause for joyous celebration. So, we should prepare ourselves with prayers of praise and thanksgiving for His return!
“Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all the earth: make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise. Sing unto the Lord with the harp; with the harp, and the voice of a psalm. With trumpets and sound of cornet make a joyful noise before the Lord, the King. Let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein. Let the floods clap their hands: let the hills be joyful together Before the Lord; for he cometh to judge the earth: with righteousness shall he judge the world, and the people with equity.”
Psalms 98:4-9 KJV
But even though praise and making a joyful noise are important, there is also a need for sober worship as well. God is to be feared, and revered. Even though we praise Him greatly in song, we must realize His divinity and worship him in stillness and quiet too. There is a time and place for both of these. God is complex, just as our earthly lives are.
My earthly father was a military man; he served our country for 22 years and fought in WWII and Korea. To me he was a loving father, to my mother he was a good and loving husband; he would playfully toss me into the air and lovingly hold my mother, but there was more to him. On the battlefield he was courageous and mighty, he led men into war and took lives, even as David did when he was called upon to do so. He could love his family on the one hand, and strike terror into an enemy on the other. These are the extremes of his life... But most of the time he was my teacher and honored father who I obeyed and in whose house he demanded my respect. God is similarly complex. We praise Him joyously, but we do so knowing He is mighty and to be respected.
I loved my father, I honored my father, I respected my father, and I also praised him for his life and how he taught and raised me. However, the times that drew me closest to him were those when he would toss me into the air as I laughed out loud, or when we would wrestle on the living room floor as he tickled me.
The relationship I had with my father was complex, just as my relationship with God is complex, but much like with my earthly father, I am most drawn to my God in times of joyful praise. I know He is powerful, awesome, mighty, to be feared, but I also know that He is loving, kind, splendid, and full of grace and mercy. So I love Him and praise Him, and in the sanctuary of my church I lift my voice in joyful praise to my Heavenly Father; I am glad that He loves me as His child, and honor Him in His complexity. So it is that we should pray and worship our God with joy, honor, reverence, and love. We know His might, but we also know that to us He is not an enemy to be feared... He is our Heavenly Father.
“For the Lord is great, and greatly to be praised: he is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the nations are idols: but the Lord made the heavens. Honour and majesty are before him: strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.”
Psalms 96:4-6 KJV
Today let's praise our Heavenly Father and sing out to Him. Let's love the complexity of our God that created us in His image and realize that it is His love with which he reaches out to us when we are yet sinners. He gave His Son to redeem us, and win us back to Him, and in that loving act He demonstrated that we are of great value to Him. He is worthy of our praise, and we should never forget these words of Jesus...
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.”
John 3:16-17 KJV
Today let’s Praise God because He loves us, and worship Him in all of His complexity. Today and every day, let’s honor and worship Him for all He is.
Prayer:
Father thank you for loving us, and for sending your Son, the Messiah, to redeem us. Thank you for those times of great joy when we are held close in your arms, and for the times when you come to recue us from our enemies using your omnipotence, and strong right arm. Thank you Lord for throwing us up in the air like a playful Father, but thank you too for the complexity and seriousness that warrants our righteous worship and praise. You teach us of your Word, and of the serious nature of who you are, and our relationship with you grows through all your attributes, and yet you are not simply one of these or the other, but all of them. You are comprised of an incredibly complex character Lord. You might emphasize your love for us with the infusion of joy, happiness, and peace, and allow us to know you in your times of lightheartedness, but your serious, loving, and complex nature are at the heart of our relationship with you. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you our God who knows our hearts, and desires for us to know yours. Holy are you who pours yourself over us, and calls us your own. True is your Word and every promise you make to us. Deep and wide are you, and the relationship you desire to have with us. Forevermore is you grace, and love for us, and eternal the worship, praise, and love you long for us to come to you with in our prayers and song. Hear our voices today Father, as we praise you in laughter, song, and solemn worship too.
Amen!
Rich Forbes