BIBLE MESSAGES Praise Ye The Lord “Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord” [Psalm 150:6]. There are a number of synonyms for the word praise, such as worship, eulogize, and laud. If one goes to an Alabama or Auburn football game, when one of them scores, you will see their fans rise in unison, with arms held high, and scream to their greatest ability. I am not suggesting that we do that in our praise to God, but tell me what is in their mind as they do it. Isn’t it the feeling of exhalation of victory. We sing a song, “Faith Is The Victory”. In Christ we gain a victory over the greatest of all foes, the Devil. “So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people” [Acts 2:46,47]. The theme of praise is devotion. Webster says that devotion is “the state of being devoted to, ardent affection, zealous attachment to”. When we are really sold on an item our feelings fro that item radiates out from us. Do we really feel appreciation toward God, for the person who He really is, and for what He has done for us. The Psalmist said, “When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained, what is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him? You have made him a little lower than the angels, and You have crowned Him with glory and honor. You have made Him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under His feet....O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is Your name in all the earth!” [Psalm 8:3-9]. I believe we often emphasize the wrong part of our service. We think of preaching as being the more important part of our service, we partake of the Lord’s Supper as though it is just something we have to do. The preaching is important and when we think about it being the only Bible instructions some ever get, it becomes even more important. But we meet to worship God. When we sing we exhort each other, but we praise God in song. Think of what we are doing when we sing such songs as “How Great Thou Art”. We are reminding our self and our fellow Christians of how great God is; we are reminded of His handiwork in the creation of the hills and valleys, the trees, etc and more than that we are telling God that we know how great He is as our creator and preserver. When we sing “I Need Thee Every Hour”, we are recognizing, Oh! How much we are dependent on Him. Who are we? “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light” [1 Peter 2:9] Paul wrote, “Speaking to one another psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart unto the Lord” [Eph. 5:19]. I read that the word ‘praise’ is used 168 times in Psalms. “The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament showeth His handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard” [Psalm 19:1-3]. “Praise ye the Lord from the heavens, praise Him in the heights, praise ye Him, all His angels; praise ye Him, all his hosts; praise Him, all ye stars of light; praise Him, ye heavens of heavens, and ye waters above the heavens, let them praise the name of the Lord” [Psalm 148:1-4]. If we are too close to this wicked world in which we live we can become discouraged and want to throw our hands up and say what is the use. Listen to the apostle Paul, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulations, or distress, or persecutions, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate me from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” [Rom. 8:35-39]. Just think about how wonderful the promises to the faithful are. “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night. In which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire and the elements will melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which dwelleth righteousness” [2 Peter 3:10-12]. Written by: Clifford Sims |