Yet Another Year of Choices
By Barbara Dahlgren
Praising God is so much more than just singing songs each week in church services, although that can be a part of it. It’s realizing how BIG God is and how little we are.
It reminds me of the chorus from a song called Yakko’s Universe. Yakko is one of the cartoon characters from Animaniacs, an animated comedy series from the 1990s that I used to watch with my son. The lyrics went something like this…
“It’s a great big universe and we’re all really puny. We’re just tiny little specks about the size of Mickey Rooney. It’s big and black and inky and we are small and dinky. It’s a big universe and we’re not.”
That’s how it is with God. He’s a great BIG God and we’re not. That’s the first step. We realize that God is BIG and powerful and great.
Then this great, big, powerful God who owns the universe sacrifices His Son so we can have salvation. WOW! He says, “Come and follow Me and I will care for you. My Son has paid the penalty for your sin. I will wipe your slate clean. I will supply all your needs. I will forgive you. I will let you start anew. I will be with you in the good times and the bad times. You will never be alone. I will give you strength. I will lift the burdens of this world off your shoulders. I will give you rest. I will give you comfort. I will give you hope. I will give you eternal life. I will give you true love.”
When this sinks in with us, we cannot comprehend the wonder of it all. As we do gain understanding, we fall to our knees. We cry. We repent. We surrender. This is where praise begins…with a certain brokenness.
Suddenly we see God face-to-face. We see Him everywhere. We see His strength in a thunderstorm. We see His peace in a sleeping baby. We see His majesty in a towering mountain. We see His joy in a laughing child. We see His beauty in a vibrant sunset. We see His vastness in a star-filled sky. We see His guidance in our lives. When we see God face-to-face, our focus changes. We arise from bed in the morning blessing Him. We thank Him as we drive the car. We want to walk with Him. We talk with Him throughout the day. We meditate on His greatness, His power, His love. We whisper the name of Jesus. We shout for joy. We realize the reason we live is to worship Him.
Men build doctrines around the interpretation of one scripture and ignore the hundreds that say to praise God. Why? Could it be easier to academically pontificate on hidden meanings than to totally surrender our hearts, minds, and very beings to God? Is it easier to know about God than to come to know Him intimately? I think so, because we can remain detached. If we truly know God, we cannot remain detached for He lives in us.
Consider this… As you read the Bible, I urge you to look for buzzwords that are linked to praise – words like bless, thanksgiving, thankful, thank, sacrifice, look to, lift hands, sing, dance, leap, joyful noise, joy, worship, rejoice, worthy, awesome, etc. They’re everywhere!
You see, God doesn’t need our praise but we need to praise Him. Through praise we affirm over and over again God’s greatness and how thankful we are to have Him in our lives. (Revelation 4:8-11)
One final thought…
Have you prayed about your concerns as much as you’ve talked about them? We would worry less if we praised God more.
