Not to us, O Lord, not to us but to Your name give glory, for Your mercy and loving-kindness and for the sake of Your truth and faithfulness!
Psalm 115:1
Sometimes, I think, we sing and speak out our praise of our great God…giving Him glory…but failing to voice why we are glorifying Him. Y’know…”Praise the Lord! Praise You, Jesus! Praise You, praise You, praise You!” These are the words that come from my mouth at times. Perhaps my praises should be filled with specific expressions of my gratitude. We do this when we are relating our praise about others, right? When I am praising any other person on this earth, I don’t simply say–for example, ‘Oh, I just praise Megan…she’s so good!’ No; I say, ‘Oh, it was so awesome! We have reached the end of the ‘Seven’ journey, and Megan was sharing her heart…her words just spoke so eloquently! I am so thankful for her ability to communicate heart matters!’ Likewise, when praising Almighty God, we should be specific about His awesome lovingkindness, His mercy, His grace, His steadfast love! Yes?
The Psalmist—King David— was really, really, really good at this! Of the 150 individual psalms which make up the Book of Psalms in the Bible, approximately 80 have been ascribed to David. David, who God called ‘a man after my own heart,’ wrote phrase after phrase (praise after praise!) filled with praises of His God…and praising Him specifically. Here are a few examples of David’s praises.
Oh give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, for His steadfast love endures forever!
Psalm 107:1
The Lord lives, and blessed be my rock, and exalted be the God of my salvation—
The God who gave me vengeance and subdued peoples under me,
Who delivered me from my enemies; yes, You exalted me above
those who rose against me; You rescued me from the man of violence.
For this I will praise you, O Lord….
Psalms 18:46-49
Shout for joy to God, all the earth;
Sing the glory of His name; give to Him glorious praise!
Say to God, “How awesome are Your deeds!
So great is Your power that Your enemies come cringing to You.
All the earth worships You and sings praises to You; they sing praises to your name.” Selah
Psalms 66:1-4
As is written in Psalm 107:2 “Let the redeemed of the Lord <that is you and me!> say so…” Be specific when you sing or speak or shout your praises to Your loving Father! And when you are praising Him to others…use words to tell them about your wonderful, loving, faithful, compassionate, merciful, gracious Father!
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Oh, Lord, we do so love to praise You—and we have so very many, many, many opportunities to praise You for Your goodness, Your faithfulness, Your kindness, Your love! Forgive us, Lord, when we have failed to voice the whys of our praises! We, truly, have so very much to praise and thank You for…may we not be remiss in telling you exactly why! We love you, Lord! Amen.
