Give Praise To Our God!
Praise the Lord in his sanctuary,
praise him in the firmament of his strength.
Praise him for his mighty deeds,
praise him for his sovereign majesty.
Praise him with the blast of the trumpet,
praise him with lyre and harp,
Praise him with timbrel and dance,
praise him with strings and pipe.
Praise him with sounding cymbals,
praise him with clanging cymbals.
Let everything that has breath
praise the Lord! Alleluia. (Ps 150:1b-6)
We all long for the ol’ “attaboy” or “attagirl”. We long for praise. When we were quite young, we wanted to be acknowledged by our parents for all the good that we did. As we got older, we longer for that same recognition from our friends, our teachers, our employers, and anyone with whom we may have associated.
Praise was — and is — important to us because it gives us some validation in our lives. It makes us feel as if we have importance to another.
We thrive on praise and, to a very real extent, need praise in order to function and function well.
There is another to whom we give praise: God.
While God is supremely worthy of all praise, He does not need it. He does not thrive on it. He does not crave it.
God has done everything for us. He has created us. He has redeemed us. He sanctifies us day by day. Ultimately, He calls us from death to share in His resurrection into eternal life. If that does not deserve praise, nothing does.
That is why we give praise to God. It does nothing for Him. It does not make Him any greater. It does not inflate Him. It merely allows us to give Him what we feel is His due.
That is why we praise God this day and every day of our lives.
FAITH ACTION: In prayer today, make your own canticle of praise to God for whatever it is He has done for you. Make sure you use it in prayer often for He, indeed, is worthy of praise.