The Capacity For Praise
God is great and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of His Holiness. Psalm 48:1
For the Lord is great, and greatly to be praised; He is to be feared above all gods. Psalm 96:4
Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; and His greatness is unsearchable. Psalm 145:3
The Greatness of God
The purpose of praise is always to honor and bear witness to the greatness of God. Praise is recognition of God’s person. He is all-powerful and He is also a personality that has emotions and feelings. When we praise God, we recognize that The Lord our God is One Lord. There are those who either refuse or lack the understanding to praise God. These souls are missing a wonderful opportunity given to believers. It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord. It is good for our soul, our mind, and our spirit. We rob ourselves when we fail to give God thanks; not realizing that praise helps us fully appreciate God’s goodness and mercy. I know of no greater way of expressing that we know God than when we give God praise. While praise certainly does not replace obedience, it is a wonderful to encourage us to be obedient.
Some say that praise is not for everybody. How strange because that is not what the Bible declares. The Scriptures says, let everything that has breath – praise the Lord. Psalm 150:6. Praise is pleasant or pleasing. Why not give God thanks for Who He is?
If we cannot give thanks and praise for the Person of God, then we must give God praise for the great things He has done. The benefits of God’s works are too numerous to declare. As the Psalmist declared in Psalm 139:18, they are more than can be numbered. God is the preserver, sustainer, provider, strength, and security of our lives. Why not give God praise for all the marvelous things He has done?
As a matter of fact, we are commanded to give God praise. This praise becomes a matter of attitude toward God. The Lord would certainly not command us to do that which we lack the capacity to perform. Notice the words of the text, God is great and greatly to be praised. We cannot begin to give God praise without first recognizing how great God is. God is so great that even the Heavens declare His glory. God is so great that the mountains shout His greatness. God is so great that the mighty oceans sings its melody of praise to Him. God is great and He is known by His creation. These all praise Him, but it is man who rebels against God and refuses to recognize Him for all the wonderful things He has done.
Not only is God great, and that alone would be enough that He is worthy of our praise, but God is good. God is kind to His creation. He created all things for the pleasure of His good will. He takes care of His creation with delight. The deist would argue that God has left the maintenance of creation to natural laws, but that is simply not true. Nor can we take the pantheist view and say that God is in the natural laws. No, God is personally good to His creation. The Lord Jesus is our eternal example of God’s kindness and His mercy. The Creator entered creation to redeem it from its own sin and self-destruction. O that men would praise the Lord for His goodness! Time after time, God has revealed His kindness to each of us. Even during hard times and tragedy, we have experienced the goodness of God that provided comfort, guidance, and restoration. O that men would praise the Lord for His goodness!
Why don’t people praise the Lord? The capacity to praise God is there but there is a lack of willingness to act. I believe there are certain reasons for this lack of praise and if people would learn to pay attention, they could develop a life of praise. This is not just your Sunday worship experience; this is the heart that is saturated in praise that I am referring to. There is no doubt that God has blessed beyond capacity. Now we must give God praise beyond human capacity.
Expanding Your Praise Capacity
Believers must get beyond the human nature when it comes to praise. If we take the regular route of simply showing gratitude, that would not fulfill the mandate to praise God mightily. For the Lord is great, and greatly to be praised. Praise must be taken to the spiritual realm. How do we do that? Like all other spiritual virtues and practices, the Holy Spirit must be relied upon if we are to get the most out of praise or to put the most in our praise. The Holy Spirit has come along side us as our Helper in every area of life, including praise. Once we lean upon the Lord, the Spirit will teach us to compare spiritual things with spiritual things. This is when our cup runs over with joy and our heart is filled with jubilation unto the Lord.
First, we find the Spirit of God reveals that praise educates. The carnal mind cannot receive the things of the Spirit and therefore cannot understand praise. The carnal mind argues, why should I praise something that cannot be seen or something that is not tangible. This is a senseless assumption to the believer because the Spirit teaches us that God is real. We don’t have to see God, we simply have to believe God. The Spirit gives us the faith we need to see God in our work; to see God moving in the affairs of our lives; and to see God working in our problems. How many times has the Holy Spirit brought understanding to your heart when you pondered some deep questions about life and purpose? Even those times when the Spirit did not give you a direct answer, you felt His presence and reassurance that things were going to work out for good. While Jesus was with His Disciples on earth, He was their Teacher. When Jesus went back to Heaven He said He would send us the Comforter … to teach us all things and to bring all things to your remembrance. John 14:26. But how does that help us understand that praise educates? We’re getting to that. As the Spirit leads us into praise, He teaches us to observe the things of God and to not be impatient. As we begin to praise God, our eyes become open to the truth.
Let me give you a most unlikely example of how this worked. Balaam was a false prophet that used divination for hire. Through his chants and manipulations, he would give people spiritual advice. In the case of him being hired to curse Israel, God personally spoke to Balaam and said that “you cannot curse what God has blessed.” It wasn’t until Balaam got to his third round of attempting to curse Israel that his eyes became open as he offered praise. Numbers 24:1, and when Balaam saw that it pleased the Lord to bless Israel, he went not as at other times to seek for enchantments. Balaam’s eyes were opened and for a brief time, God educated the false prophet about His people Israel. Later, Balaam resorted back to his divination and was finally put to death at Baal-Peor.
Even in the case of Balaam, praise educated a false prophet to realize that he could not curse what God had blessed. Think of how praise can provide insight into the situations you face. If exalting problems cause you to find out more about your problems, then it also works the other way with exalting God.
Praise not only educates, but praise also elevates. For the Lord is great, and greatly to be praised; He is to be feared above all gods. We have been guilty of magnifying things and situations when we should have magnified the Lord. When we spend more time and attention to anything other than the Lord, those very things become gods. They dominate our thinking, our time, and our strength. It is only when we turn away from those things and turn to the Living God that our heads are lifted up above our enemies.
At one point in King David’s life, his depression and heartache had almost got the best of him. Psalm 42 was King David’s song of praise in depressing times. Why are you cast down, o my soul? Why are you disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him for the help of His countenance. Ps. 42:5, is an expression of praise lifting the soul out of despondency as it beholds the countenance of God. God is the only one that can raise our heads above our troubles. When we offer praise, we acknowledge the power of God that lifts us up above our enemies.
Praise is a wonderful engagement of the spirit that beholds the wondrous works of God. Praise also emancipates. Praise frees us from the cares and burdens as God’s peace and comfort brings rest to the weary heart. A classic example of the emancipating power of praise occurred in one of the strangest places. The Bible records Paul and Silas being locked in a jail in Philippi. Acts Chapter 16 states that they prayed and sang songs to God and the prisoners heard them. Then at midnight, there was an earthquake that literally loosed the shackles from their feet and all the prisoners as well. What happened? God set them free, but the praises to God had already freed them from the cares and mistreatment they faced.
Praise sets us free. Think about it. The cares and burdens of life will eventually wear you down with depression, anxiety, and fear. Praise to God always lifts the soul and brings peace as you recognize the Lord as your Keeper. Praise chooses God over everything else and it sets the captive free.