WordPoints - February 17, 2006

Worthy to be Praised

I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised . . .

2 Samuel 22:4

The more diligently we seek God, the more we will understand the importance of praising Him. To praise God is to acknowledge His greatness, not only by feeling a deep desire to honor His excellence, but also by expressing that desire. "Worship" is the word that most accurately describes this act of praise to God. Because He is God, God is to be worshiped. Both in our hearts and on our lips, there is to be a song of gladness for all that God is.

While it is certain that we don't praise God as we should, our problem is not simply a failure to praise Him; it is a failure to appreciate His worthiness to be praised. If the word praiseworthy can rightly be applied to any being, surely that being is God. His intrinsic nature is such as to deserve the exaltation and adoration of His creatures. In the majestic throne scene in chapters 4 and 5 of Revelation, the striking emphasis of the entire vision is on God's worthiness to receive worship. This note is sounded in the exultant praise of the twenty-four elders around God's throne: "You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and by Your will they exist and were created" (Revelation 4:11). Worthy art Thou, O God! O how worthy!

As personal beings created in God's own image, we have a built-in need to praise our Maker. We don't often recognize that need for what it is, but the almost tangible sense of rightness and goodness that is present in moments of real worship ought to tell us that the adoration of God fills a very deep need within us. We have been made such that praising God is a joy to experience, as well as a duty to fulfill. But how intensely we experience that joy depends on how deeply we have sought to know God's worthiness, and also know our debt of gratitude to Him. There will never be a day so dark that the brightness of God's glory does not deserve our praise. "Receive every day as a resurrection from death, as a new enjoyment of life . . . let your joyful heart praise and magnify so good and glorious a Creator" (William Law).

To the ear of God everything he created makes exquisite music, and man

joined in the paean of praise until he fell, then there came in the frantic

discord of sin. The realization of redemption brings man by way of the

minor note of repentance back into tune with praise again.

Oswald Chambers

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