Praise God - Even When You Don't Want To

Psalm 150: 1-6
"Praise the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens. Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness. Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet,
praise him with the harp and lyre, praise him with timbrel and dancing, praise him with the strings and pipe, praise him with the clash of cymbals, praise him with resounding cymbals.
Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord."

The Bible (particularly the Psalms) is chock full of bits like the above passage, telling us to praise the Lord. Yay! I love praising God! Once we know why we should worship God, it becomes a joy to bless Him and extol His marvellous name.

But what about when we don't want to? What about when is life is difficult, when there is pain or suffering or we're going through difficult times? Should we stop praising God?

The Bible tells us of this awesome guy named Paul and his friend who was called Silas. Here is what happened when they praised God when I'm sure they certainly didn't feel like it.

Acts 16:23-26

"After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. When he received these orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.
About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose."

Paul and Silas had just been 'severely flogged'. I am sure they felt like sitting in their corner of the jail and moaning to each other about how bad their situation was and how much their wounds hurt. Maybe they felt like God had abandoned them. Maybe the other prisoners told them how long they had been in jail for and in so doing discouraged Paul and Silas. I don't know. But what I do know is that they put aside how they felt and praised the Lord anyway.

It's hard to praise the Lord when you don't feel like it! But try it. If Paul and Silas had not praised the Lord but sat moaning I wonder if the earthquake would still have happened. There is something in praise that is powerful. It binds Satan and gives the authority the Jesus.

Psalm 115:1

"Not to us, Lord, not to us but to your name be the glory, because of your love and faithfulness."

Luke 19:37-40

"When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen:
 “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!”
“Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”
 Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!”
 “I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.” "

Do you praise the Lord anyway? Do you praise Him not just when things are going well? Do you praise Him when the hard times come? Do you keep trusting Him and worshipping Him even when it's hard?

Blessings to you all!

(All Scripture passages in this post are from the NIV translation.)

Why Worship?

Why should we worship God?

Well, here are the answers to this important question that come to mind.

The First Reason

What is the chief end of man? 

Man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him for ever.

(Westminster Shorter Catechism)

We were created to glorify God. God made us to glorify Him and enjoy Him. That is our main purpose for existence.

Psalm 100:3

 "It is he that made us."

The Second Reason

We owe Him so much! 

Without our Lord, we would be still sinners and condemned to eternal punishment on Judgement Day. But He took the punishment for our sins and died on the cross so that we could be forgiven and go to be with Him one day.

Romans 5:8

"But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

Isn't thankfulness for all He has done an admirable reason to worship Him?

The Third Reason

We are commanded to worship Him.

Revelation 14:7b

"Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water."

1 Chronicles 16:23-31
"Sing to the Lord, all the earth;
proclaim his salvation day after day.
Declare his glory among the nations,
his marvelous deeds among all peoples.
For great is the Lord and most worthy of praise;
he is to be feared above all gods.
For all the gods of the nations are idols,
but the Lord made the heavens.
Splendor and majesty are before him;
strength and joy are in his dwelling place.
Ascribe to the Lord, all you families of nations,
ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;
bring an offering and come before him.
Worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness.
Tremble before him, all the earth!
The world is firmly established; it cannot be moved.
Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad;
let them say among the nations, “The Lord reigns!” "

There are many, many other reasons why we should worship our great, loving, kind Heavenly Father. If you aren't convinced by now, here are some more verses on this subject. I think Scripture itself is such a powerful way to convey information! :) God's Word says it so much better than I can.

Luke 19:37-40

When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives,the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen:
“Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!”
“Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”
Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!”
“I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”

Isaiah 55:12
"You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands."

(Even nature glorifies God!)

John 4:23
"But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him."

Blessings to you all!

~Bonnie

(All quoted Bible verses are from the NIV version unless specified.)