Why do we praise God

I read an article recently which talked about why we should praise

God. Some of the reasons given were:

(1) God is excited at praises, which moves Him to empty His heart

towards us.

(2) When we praise God, we are placed where we cannot be pulled

down by circumstances.

(3) Praise gives us freedom.

So many reasons were given but since they all imply that we

praise God to get His favour, I picked just these three.

The average believer today sees God as human, possessing the

same weaknesses as humans. He feels God needs praise, needs

adoration, needs worship and even thrives on these.

This is very far from the truth. God does not need our praise or

worship. Rather, we need Him and cannot exist without Him.

True Praise is usually spontaneous, resulting from a deep inner

joy that comes from the recognition of the power and love of God.

If, for instance, a good child always receives everything he needs

from the mother, he would naturally have strong feelings of love

for her. These feelings would always get stronger and if he had

the opportunity of expressing them in words, he would praise his

mother, he would even sing to her. This is also what happens in

our relationship with God. You noticed I said good child.

Genuine praise therefore, comes from those persons who recognise

that God is Almighty, and that he is love. Out of a happy and

joyful heart they want to reach out to Him. They recognise His

Power and experience His grace. They see that He is The Creator

and they, the created. Their whole being bows down to Him in

worship, and in words they burst out in praises. This is praise in

the truest sense. It is not mechanical, but being quite natural,

comes about spontaneously, and also during moments of quite

contemplation and periods of worship. With such human beings

there is the endeavour to adjust their lives to be in harmony with

the Will of God. People that fall into this category are in the

minority.

The man of today is selfish. Apart from indulging in every possible

evil,with very little or no genuine attempt to change to a better

person as willed by his Creator, he approaches Him with demands,

and clothes these demands in words of praise. Such conceit!

He wants to believe that God is pleased with such empty praise

words and so he deceitfully offers them in exchange for a better

life, even while at the same time poisoning his surroundings with

envy,jealousy, lust, hatred, avarice and all of such other evils that

emanate from him.

You see why it is said in a holy book that "their praises are like

filthy rags". Again man fails to understand this simple statement.

He thinks that man being a descendant of Abraham and coming

into the world with sin can only offer unclean praise and therefore

needs the grace of God for such praise to be transformed into an

acceptable form. This is a very sad picture indeed.

To worship means to show respect. We therefore can not claim to

worship God if we do not respect Him. We cannot also say we

respect Him if we do not endeavour to keep His Will. It is as

simple as that.

Hence those persons who possess the strong desire to live in

accordance with the Will of God and translate this desire into

deeds, such that, their thoughts, words and actions are in

harmony with His will, already worship Him. In joyful or prayerful

moments therefore, they would burst out in songs of praise,

thanking the Lord for His grace and acknowledging His power and

justice. Their words therefore would only be an extension of their

deepest or innermost feelings, not something thought out, or

calculated to get some form of compensation. Their praise would

then not be "like filthy rags". They would be children of God in the

real sense, who look upon Him in "awe and trembling"; and who

"do unto their neighbour only that which they would wish their

neighbour to do unto them".

Where do you stand?