Praise that Glorifies God
In my alone time today I was reading through Psalm 50:23, and it says, "Whoever offers praise glorifies Me: and to him who orders his conduct aright I will show the salvation of God".
I was thinking about how important it is for us to "offer praise" to God in our life so that we can bring Him glory. As I was meditating upon this idea, I thought of 2 key areas in my life, and in your life where we can be purposeful about glorifying God by offering Him praise.
1. In the way we live our life each day for God's purposes and not our own.
Jesus says, "Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven." Jesus is telling us that as we live out our lives for God each day, when people see us doing something good for others, or God uses us in some special way that draws attention to the action or to us, we are to give God the glory. That is one way we can begin practically praising God so that He is glorified.
2. The second way we can give God praise in a practical way is at church on Sunday.
During the worship service, we can truly worship God with our whole heart and soul, and not allow our tiredness or timidness to rule our lives. The Bible says, "Behold, bless the Lord, all you servants of the Lord, who by night stand in the house of the Lord! Lift up your hands in the sanctuary, and bless the Lord" (Psalm 134:1-2). This is one of the reasons I love to stand and raise up my hands to God during worship. The Bible tells us right here that it "blesses" God when we do. David would also say, "Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, My lips shall praise You. Thus I will bless You while I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name" (Psalm 63:3-4). David was a man who expressed his love to God by "praising" God, and "lifting up his hands" while he was praising the Lord. David also said, "Hear the voice of my supplications when I cry to You, when I lift up my hands toward Your holy sanctuary" (Psalm 28:2). In (Psalm 143:6) David says, "I spread out my hands to You; my souls longs for You like a thirsty land!"
This concept of "standing in the house of the Lord" and "lifting up our hands" to God is not what glorifies God in our worship in and of itself, because it is our hearts alone that God is concerned with in worship. But for some reason the bible seems to indicate that this is a posture we can take in worship that blesses God when our heart is in the right condition. Again, with a heart that is far from God, or focused on other things, it will be a meaningless and rote religious posture. But to the heart "whose soul longs for God like a thirsty land" (Ps. 143:6), it appears that our standing before the Lord and lifting up holy hands is an outward manifestation of an inward transformation of a heart filled with love and gratitude for God.
Once again, I am not suggesting that believers who do not worship God by standing and lifting up holy hands at church are not worshipping God with their whole heart, or are in some way giving God less of their heart in worship. That is not at all what I am suggesting. But what I am suggesting, and exhorting all of us with is seeking to truly "offer God praise that glorifies Him" (Psalm 50:23), which again, is somehow an indicator to God that our "soul longs for God like a thirsty land" (Ps. 143:6).
Worship is not meant to be a time of entertainment where the worship team impresses us with their abilities to sing or play. That would mean they would be getting the glory and not God. And if you ever come across a worship leader or team who wants accolades for their gifts, you should run far away, as fast as you can. The reason I say this is because of what happened to the first worship leader in heaven, who ended up having a heart that wanted all the attention (Isaiah 14:12-15). God kicked him out of heaven faster than lightning - (Luke 10:18).
Worship is meant to be a time for all of us as worshippers to express to God how much we love Him and how much we long for His presence and His love and His glory to be revealed in our lives. We are so VERY BLESSED that we have the freedom to worship Jesus in this manner! Why wouldn't we take full advantage of every opportunity we have, especially when we meet together as a body.
Did you know that there are fellowships in foreign countries at this very moment, who have to whisper during their time of worship, because if the authorities were to find out they were worshipping Jesus, they would be arrested and martyred. Oh that we would take advantage of our freedom to worship the King of kings and respond to the Psalmist exhortation to "SHOUT JOYFULLY to the Lord" (Psalm 98:4) each Sunday at church! The Psalmist also reminds us, "Praise the Lord! For IT IS GOOD to sing praises to our God; for IT IS PLEASANT, and PRAISE IS BEAUTIFUL" (Psalm 147:1).
If we are not approaching our time of praise and worship with God, with the same amount of importance and passion as we do in hearing the Word of God being taught on Sundays, then we are really missing out on so much. Worshipping God with Praise from our lips is a major way that we can express to Him that our hearts are longing for Him, and the Bible tells us that God is well-pleased with such sacrifices. In Hebrews 13:15-16 the Bible says, "Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, THE FRUIT OF OUR LIPS, GIVING THANKS TO HIS NAME (worship). But DO NOT FORGET TO DO GOOD AND TO SHARE (service), for with such sacrifices GOD IS WELL PLEASED."
So here we see that God wants us to offer Him Praise, which He considers "fruit" being produced in our lives, that comes from our "lips", just as when we "do not forget to do good and to share" is considered fruit that comes from our serving Him.
May we continue to be men and women who strive to offer God the kind of praise that glorifies Him!
