The Enemies of Praise – Part 2
20. For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.
21. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools,
22. And exchanged the Glory of the Immortal God for images made to look like mortal human beings and birds and animals and reptiles.
23. Therefore, God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another.
24. They exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshipped and served created things rather than the Creator – Who is forever praised. Amen.
Romans 1:21-25
Lack of Praise Has Catastrophic Consequences
Back in the 1980s and early 90s, computers looked a lot different from our current laptops, iPads, and other information processing devices. There was basically this box that had two slots, an upper and a lower slot. The upper drive was called the program drive and contained a floppy disc that held the computer program that would process the information on the lower drive. The lower drive also happened to be a floppy drive and was used to store data. I can remember those oh-oh moments when the lower drive (Drive B) would get corrupted. The message would come on the screen and tell you that your file was corrupted or could no longer process the data. To fix the problem, you would have to get a new floppy drive and reenter the data. An easy fix. If, however, the Drive A (program drive) got corrupted, that was an oh-no moment. Of course, back in those days you would have an extra copy of the program that could then replace the old, corrupt program file in Drive A. But if there was no other program, then Drive B data could not be accessed. Here is my point. Humans have changed the operating system from God’s program to something else and yet expect their personal data to be uncorrupted. But whenever you change from God to something else the results are always disastrous.
Paul warned of this tragic results in his letter to the Romans. They wanted to change from God’s narrative for their lives and in doing so, they denied the very existence of God. Romans 1:21, For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Unthankful people not only miss out on a worship opportunity, but they also risk being turned over to a life of destruction as reprobates. So, what causes people to deny God’s existence and live such unthankful lives?
Five Enemies of Praise
This passage in Romans 1 as well as many other Scriptures reveal that there are five enemies to praise. These enemies of praise are disobedience, discontentment, doubt, discouragement, and distress. They affect not only the sinner but also the saint of God. The Apostle Paul’s admonition serves as a reminder that it should be our delight to worship and give thanks unto God Almighty for the amazing things He has done for us as well as in us. Living the thankful life is perhaps the only thing we can do for God. Everything else depends upon His Strength and His Grace.
To recap, it is disobedience when we do not give God thanks. The word ‘Hallelujah,’ is a command to give God thanks. Jesus asked His Disciples, “how can you call Me Lord, if you don’t do the things I command you?” Luke 6:46. So, Paul’s warning applies to Christians if they ever fall into the devils trap of denying God the glory that is due to Him. Romans 1:21, For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him.
Similar to disobedience is discontentment. Discontentment may start off subtle with prayerless words like, “Why didn’t the Lord answer my prayer?” It soon escalates into a believer failing to recognize God in their life based on the assumption that God is not giving them what they want. Rather than giving thanks, people become vain in their thinking and allow their request to become bigger than God’s answer. Many in the Israelite community were plagued with the discontentment disease as they journeyed through the wilderness to the Promised Land. They became vain in their hearts against God and Moses. Romans 1:21b, but their thinking became futile (empty, vain) and their foolish hearts were darkened. Destruction soon followed for their lack of praise. Yet, a few true Israelites praised their way to God’s Promised Land. Praise kept them from being discontented. They were thankful that God had led them out of bondage and was leading them to the promised land. They did not allow discomfort to become an open invitation to discontentment. The Bible says godliness with contentment is great gain. We should take that to heart rather than allowing problems to create barriers to worship and giving thanks.
It boils down to people removing every reference to God even though they know that God is the Creator. They want to remove the program of God’s control and still expect for the data of their life to turn out positive, but it does not work that way. Many who rebel against God actually expect God to simply overlook their ungrateful life. Well, it doesn’t work that way. God will repay them for their ungratefulness and stubbornness. Romans 1:24 says, Therefore, God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. You may wonder why are people living such immoral lives. The answer is oh so clear; God has given those people over to their lust and shame.
Then there is the third enemy to attack praise and that is doubt. Doubt doesn’t just rob a person of their praise, it dominates the heart so that if any evidence of God is presented, doubt calls it anything else except God. Doubt does the work of exchanging the truth about God for a lie so that people end up worshipping and serving created things rather than the Creator. For those who know God and continue to give God praise, they don’t allow doubt to steal their joy. I visited one of the members of the Church named Delores while she was in the hospital. I expected to find her downhearted and sad. To my surprise, she had the biggest smile on her face and talked about how good God was. She said, “I will not allow this sickness to steal my joy.” What was Delores doing? She was praising God even as her body was experiencing tremendous challenges. She did not allow the doubt to creep in and rob her of praise. Giving God glory and recognizing His goodness is something we can do continuously. As the Psalmist said, “I will bless God at all times.”
As Disciples of Jesus Christ, we must be aware that the enemy of our soul will not only try to take our joy, but the enemy will also try to steal our praise. We are the ones who know God and have made a commitment to live for His Glory. We are the ones that worship God. We are the ones who sing songs to the Lord. So, if the enemy can stop us from praising the Lord, then our testimony will cease and we will not share with the lost about our Blessed Hope and Strength.
There is also another enemy of praise called discouragement. Paul eloquently describes this as exchanging the Glory of the Immortal God for images made to look like mortal human beings and birds and animals and reptiles. When the praise is gone, then people will begin to imagine things that are not true about God. All kinds of ungodly and wicked thinking will rush in to fill the mind when praise is absent. Don’t get me wrong, all of us will be attacked by the enemy of discouragement. Even Paul himself admitted that he was pressed out of measure and felt that his life was in jeopardy. But that kind of anxiety did not drive him from God, but rather caused him to draw closer to God. He wrote later in the eighth chapter of Romans that nothing could separate him from the Love of God that was in Christ Jesus. That is the power of praise over discouragement.
There is another member of our Church named Marion. She has faced cancer three times. In her recent bout, the doctor told her that she needed to start treatments because the cancer had returned. Rather than getting discouraged, Marion decided she would maintain her praise and thank God despite her sickness. She went back to the doctor after several months of intense treatment and the doctor informed her that the cancer was gone. Out of curiosity, she asked the doctor how many tumors were found (thinking it was two or three)? The doctor said, “you had fifteen tumors and they are all gone.” Well, she lost it right in the doctor’s office and began to praise God. That is the right attitude when you know that God is good all the time. Never allow the discouragement to send the false message of hopelessness. Don’t exchange the truth of God for the devil’s lie. Keep praising God.
I am calling these attitudes as they really are; they are the enemies of praise. The verse says, they knew God, but they neither glorified Him as God nor gave Him thanks. Not everyone knows God so it stands to reason that they cannot praise who they do not know. But these people know God. They have seen His Glory in Creation. How blind can a person be to not see God as they view the majestic mountains that God has made? How blind can one be to not see the Glory of God in the ocean waves? How blind and ignorant can a person be to not think of God when they gaze upon the stars? God is everywhere.
Some years ago, the couples of our Church took a cruise to the Caribbean. One of our members named Ronnie and his wife Alfreda were among the group. This was Ronnie’s first time cruising and his first time in the beautiful islands. He was so overwhelmed with the sight of it all that he placed his head on his wife’s shoulder and cried for joy. He said, “I never knew God made all of this.” When you really look at God’s Creation, you cannot help but acknowledge God’s Glory.
The purpose of this message is to help us to always be on guard against the enemies of praise. One of the worst enemies is distress. It also goes by fear. Clearly Distress is a lie that parades itself as fact or the “way it is.” Some will suggest that they are trying to keep it real when they are lying at the same time. Where does Distress come from? 2 Timothy 1:7, for God has not given us the spirit of fear (distress), but of power, love, and soundness of mind. That distress is the tool of Satan that he uses to rob you of praise. The devil does not want you to praise God, but that is exactly what you must do to have power, love, and a sound mind.
When the believer praises God and gives Him honor, that very act reduces the distance between God and the believer’s heart. As a matter of fact, the Bible says, God inhabits the praises of His people. That being true, God does not inhabit the lives of those who cease to praise or deny His Power. So, the conclusion is that God walks away from the lives of those who deny His Revelation. They are turned over to the wicked way of living and become reprobate in their thinking.
This is not the case for the child of God who loves to praise God. Not only have we known God, but we also glorify God for His great work. The more we praise God, the more it transforms our lives. As Moses face shined with God’s Glory, so the lives of every child of God will radiate with God’s Grace. So, lets just praise the Lord and watch how it causes our life to shine for God’s Glory. That is the results of true praise! Hallelujah!