When I was a kid, our church services sometimes began with the popular worship song, “Come, Now is the Time to Worship,” followed by a reading of Psalm 100:4, “Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise.”
Growing up in church, it didn’t take long for me to learn that Christians praise God when they gather and sing and when they’re thankful; and it didn’t take long to learn that the Bible tells us to do this. However, when I read through the book of Psalms as a teenager, my understanding of praise suddenly got much larger than just Sunday morning worship. While Psalm 100 urges us to praise God when we enter His house, Psalm 54 tells us that David praised God when he entered a cave to hide from a jealous king. For the first time, I realized that praising God is a lot bigger than just singing a hymn when you’re happy.
In church, we tend to focus on the psalms that talk about praise in the context of rejoicing and singing. But the writers of this poetic book mention ‘praise’ over 150 times and those references have a lot more to teach us than to simply sing God’s praises when we go to church. Here are a few of the other truths that the book of Psalms teach us about praise.
It is Good (and Possible) to Praise God at All Times
“I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth.” (Ps. 34:1)
“It is good to sing praises to our God; for it is pleasant and praise is beautiful.” (Ps. 147:1)
“All times” means it’s good to praise God while getting out of bed in the morning, doing the dishes, and even when you’re paying bills. It’s good to praise Him when you feel joy and anger, sickness and health, sorrow and abundance. One reason I love the book of Psalms is because it tells us to praise God at all times and then it gives us examples of how to do that.
When you feel hopeless, it is good to praise God because we have the promise that, “The Lord will command His lovingkindness in the daytime” (Ps. 42:8). Our sorrow and suffering on earth is temporary. Our hope in heaven is secure. The writer of Psalm 42 was grieving as he wrote this song and yet he commanded his soul to praise God. We can follow his example: “Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him” (v.5).
When you are afraid, it is good to praise God because His “mercy reaches unto the heavens, and [His] truth unto the clouds” (Ps. 57:10). Psalm 52 was written when David fled for his life from King Saul and hid in caves in the wilderness. Yet he still said, “I will praise You, O Lord, among the peoples; I will sing to You among the nations” (v. 9). Because of the Lord’s mercy, we can follow David’s example.
One Day All People will Praise God
“All the earth shall worship You and sing praises to You; they shall sing praises to Your name.” (Ps. 66:4)
“All the kings of the earth shall praise You, O Lord, when they hear the words of Your mouth.” (Ps. 138:4)
Recently, I was at a worship conference, in a stadium with thousands of other Christians singing about the majesty and power of Jesus Christ. At one point, I looked around at the people surrounding me. There were people from across the country and even around the world, men and women older and younger than I am, all of them singing praises to Jesus. Have you ever been surrounded by the church singing God’s praises? When you praise God together with your local church, or at a Christian conference, you are one of a few dozen to a few thousand people. One day, billions will gather to worship and sing praises to the King of kings.
On that day, the multitude of people will include the church and–Psalms tells us–all the earth. When you look around and see so many people living in rebellion against God’s good will, it can be helpful and encouraging to remember that one day, every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, even those who currently live in rebellion against Him.
Praise Pleases God More than Sacrifice
“I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify Him with thanksgiving. This also shall please the Lord better than an ox or bull, which has horns and hooves.” (Ps. 69:30-31)
When you stand in the midst of that multitude one day to praise the Lord, you won’t be able to hear your own voice above the sound. Your voice will join the harmony of voices. And yet somehow, in the middle of the symphony, God will see and hear you praising Him. And Psalms tells us that the sound of your praise will please Him.
It’s easy to fall into feeling like we need to do more to please God; get more involved at church, read our Bible more, or pray more. But the gospel tells us that Jesus Christ has already done everything needed to make us acceptable to God. There is nothing left for us to do to become more loved or more pleasing. All that is left for us to do is to praise Christ for His work in our lives. God isn’t primarily looking for people to do more good things, He is looking for people to praise Him for the good that He has done on our behalf. “You are […] His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” (1 Peter 2:9)
The Full Picture of Praise
I’m grateful that I learned early in life to praise the Lord for His blessings and I’m grateful that I fell in love with praising God together with my church congregation in the form of singing. But I’m even more grateful for the full panorama picture that Scripture paints of what praise can look like. A picture that includes all of our emotions and circumstances, one that includes people from the entire world, and one that pleases the Lord.