What Praise Does

Have you ever made it to church by the skin of your teeth? I mean, the weight of so many troubles almost persuaded you to stay in bed, cover your head and try to hide from the world and all its woes. Been there, done that! Thankfully, I’ve learned something vital to my life and to my relationship with God, and when that feeling hits, I get up even more determinedly, and I get myself to the House of God. So, the first thing to know for today is, while it’s okay to feel that way from time to time, whatever happens—DON’T DO IT!

Let’s visualize the scenario… Somehow, you get yourself to church, and perhaps you hide your worries behind a smile while you say hello to some folks. Then the service begins and perhaps you still feel awful, but, hopefully, you’ve learned that it’s worth making the effort to enter in anyway.

Then the worship team begins to sing. I pray you’re in a church where the goal is not to give a performance, but to exalt God and bring Him to the forefront of everything that is being said and done. You begin to sing words that stir up your faith, words that have their root in Scripture, words that express your thanks to God for who He is and what He has done. In short, you’ve begun to praise God.

Then, somehow, in your praises, you begin to once again grasp the greatness of God, and the spiritual environment you’re operating in becomes completely different. As you praise Him and thank Him for His love, His mercy, and His mighty power, your faith rises to grasp these things as reality, not just nice words in a song. Finally, seen through the prism of praise, those problems we came in with seem far less weighty. For me, just the act of heartfelt praise to God makes a difference. Praise may not change my problems, but it absolutely changes me.

We’ve talked here about praising God in church and that is definitely a powerful thing to do, but we certainly shouldn’t wait till we’re in church to praise God. We need to say with the psalmist that, “I will bless the LORD at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth.” (Psalm 34:1). When David sang praises to God, our verse today tells us his lips would “shout for joy.” God deserves all our praise, all the time, and the joy that fills our hearts when we do praise Him, is palpable and it is life-changing.