Giving Thanks and Offering Praise
Praise
The attention span of a typical human is ten praises, six promises, or one preachment.997
Praise is a natural and necessary response to fully enjoy the object that is praised. For example, when watching a football game on television, it is a natural response to praise a tremendous play. To shout WOW! after an acrobatic catch in the end zone is not only natural, but necessary to fully enjoy the spectacular play. If you do not believe that it is necessary, the next time you watch a football game try to not express yourself at all. You will quickly find that you do not enjoy the action nearly as much as you do when you have the freedom to express yourself in praise and excitement.998
“It is not out of compliment that lovers keep on telling one another how beautiful they are; the delight is incomplete till it is expressed. It is frustrating to have discovered a new author and not to be able to tell anyone how good he is; to come suddenly, at the turn of the road, upon some mountain valley of unexpected grandeur and then to have to keep silent because the people with you care for it no more than for a tin can in the ditch; to hear a good joke and find no one to share it with” (C. S. Lewis, Reflections on the Psalms [New York: Walker & Co., 1985], p. 95).999
One Sunday morning after the service a woman came up to the pastor and thanked him for the encouraging sermon he had preached. In response he said, “Why, don’t thank me, thank the Lord.”
She said, “Well, I thought of that, but it wasn’t quite that good.”1000
Praise
The attention span of a typical human is ten praises, six promises, or one preachment.997
Praise is a natural and necessary response to fully enjoy the object that is praised. For example, when watching a football game on television, it is a natural response to praise a tremendous play. To shout WOW! after an acrobatic catch in the end zone is not only natural, but necessary to fully enjoy the spectacular play. If you do not believe that it is necessary, the next time you watch a football game try to not express yourself at all. You will quickly find that you do not enjoy the action nearly as much as you do when you have the freedom to express yourself in praise and excitement.998
“It is not out of compliment that lovers keep on telling one another how beautiful they are; the delight is incomplete till it is expressed. It is frustrating to have discovered a new author and not to be able to tell anyone how good he is; to come suddenly, at the turn of the road, upon some mountain valley of unexpected grandeur and then to have to keep silent because the people with you care for it no more than for a tin can in the ditch; to hear a good joke and find no one to share it with” (C. S. Lewis, Reflections on the Psalms [New York: Walker & Co., 1985], p. 95).999
One Sunday morning after the service a woman came up to the pastor and thanked him for the encouraging sermon he had preached. In response he said, “Why, don’t thank me, thank the Lord.”
She said, “Well, I thought of that, but it wasn’t quite that good.”1000
Praise
The attention span of a typical human is ten praises, six promises, or one preachment.997
Praise is a natural and necessary response to fully enjoy the object that is praised. For example, when watching a football game on television, it is a natural response to praise a tremendous play. To shout WOW! after an acrobatic catch in the end zone is not only natural, but necessary to fully enjoy the spectacular play. If you do not believe that it is necessary, the next time you watch a football game try to not express yourself at all. You will quickly find that you do not enjoy the action nearly as much as you do when you have the freedom to express yourself in praise and excitement.998
“It is not out of compliment that lovers keep on telling one another how beautiful they are; the delight is incomplete till it is expressed. It is frustrating to have discovered a new author and not to be able to tell anyone how good he is; to come suddenly, at the turn of the road, upon some mountain valley of unexpected grandeur and then to have to keep silent because the people with you care for it no more than for a tin can in the ditch; to hear a good joke and find no one to share it with” (C. S. Lewis, Reflections on the Psalms [New York: Walker & Co., 1985], p. 95).999
One Sunday morning after the service a woman came up to the pastor and thanked him for the encouraging sermon he had preached. In response he said, “Why, don’t thank me, thank the Lord.”
She said, “Well, I thought of that, but it wasn’t quite that good.”1000
Giving Thanks:
I. The Praise—v.
A. Thanks—“Make a joyful noise unto the Lord.” We should thank God without being forced or even reminded.
B. Thoughtfulness—“All ye lands.” Many people are inconsiderate or unthoughtful. Stop and think of all God’s blessings to you, then give thanks unto Him.
How should we praise?
II. The psalms—v.
A. Serving—“Serve the Lord with gladness.” Some people endure salvation while others enjoy it. Serving the Lord is not a duty but a delight.
zāmar). vb. to sing praise. Indicates the act of singing praise and praising the Lord.
This verb means “to sing praise,” and occurs almost exclusively in Psalms, as in Psa 104:33b: “I will sing praise (zāmar) to my God while I remain alive” (see also Psa 7:17; 9:2; 21:3; 30:12; 138:1).
B. Singing—“Come before his presence with singing.” When we know the Lord personally, we sing and rejoice in the Lord. Paul tells of singing praise unto the Lord—. So does .
B. Singing—“Come before his presence with singing.” When we know the Lord personally, we sing and rejoice in the Lord. Paul tells of singing praise unto the Lord—. So does .
Who should praise and Why should they praise?
III. The people—v.
A. Personality—“Know ye that the Lord is good.” God is a good God! All things in the Christian’s life work together for good—.
B. Purpose—“He hath made us and not we ourselves.” We were made in the image of God—. Therefore we should show the image of God in our daily lives.
C. People—“We are his people.” We are God’s people when we accept the Son of God—.
IV. The pattern—v.
A. Thanksgiving—“Enter into his gates with thanksgiving.”
B. Praise—“And into his courts with praise.”
C. Blessing—“Bless his name.” His name above all names!
Praising God” as an expression of being alive and “not being able to praise God any longer” as signature of death are anthropological topoi frequently attested in the Psalter. They emphasize not only that praising God, as a language act (see below on Psalm 150), celebrates God as the giver of life and thus life itself as God’s gift, but that life as life is praise of God, to the extent that YHWH himself is life in fullness and gives us a share in his life. Therefore those who live their lives as life owed to God are in a sense living praise of YHWH—and thus living counterimages to those who found their lives on mortal human beings. At the same time, Psalm 146 emphasizes that praise of YHWH means perceiving and affirming YHWH’s order of life, especially his life-sustaining and justice-creating royal rule in creation and history
Praising God” as an expression of being alive and “not being able to praise God any longer” as signature of death are anthropological topoi frequently attested in the Psalter. They emphasize not only that praising God, as a language act (see below on Psalm 150), celebrates God as the giver of life and thus life itself as God’s gift, but that life as life is praise of God, to the extent that YHWH himself is life in fullness and gives us a share in his life. Therefore those who live their lives as life owed to God are in a sense living praise of YHWH—and thus living counterimages to those who found their lives on mortal human beings. At the same time, Psalm 146 emphasizes that praise of YHWH means perceiving and affirming YHWH’s order of life, especially his life-sustaining and justice-creating royal rule in creation and history