Are you praising?

Are you praising?

 
If you looked down deep into your soul, and asked yourself how you feel about your life up to this point, and how you feel about the situation that you are in now, what would your answer be? What is the attitude of your inner-self? If you were to tell me what your attitude is towards God, who sovereignly ordained your life, what would I hear? Would it be sorrow? Would it be anger? Would it be joy?

A passage in the bible says, “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I say rejoice.” Can you say that you are rejoicing right now in what God has planned for you?

The subject of our message today is the same as our song…Praise. Praise is an offering of gratitude towards God, boasting or admiring him. It is an act of worship. When we think of praise, we normally don’t think of being forced to give it, nor do we think of being upset or sad while we do it. We think more in the lines of a free giving of thanksgiving to God for who He is, really rejoicing in Him.

Yet, God tells us that we are to constantly offer up to God our praise. How can we do this with all the pain and trouble in our lives?

 
Praise Him! Praise Him! was one of over 8,000 song texts that Fanny Crosby wrote in her lifetime of 95 years. Fanny Crosby was blinded at the tender age of 1 and a half months old by an improperly done medical treatment. Though she was physically blind and could have complained, instead she used her talents to honor God for all that he is and has done. This is an attitude that seeks to praise God. This attitude of praise resounds throughout this song.

Well, Psalm 146 is very helpful for this. We will look at this Psalm in order to determine how we can come to praise God throughout this life.

Ps. 146

Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord, O my soul! I will praise the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being. Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation. When his breath departs, he returns to the earth; on that very day his plans perish.

Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God, who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, who keeps faith forever; who executes justice for the oppressed, who gives food to the hungry.

The Lord sets the prisoners free; the Lord opens the eyes of the blind. The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down; the Lord loves the righteous. The Lord watches over the sojourners; he upholds the widow and the fatherless, but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.

The Lord will reign forever, your God, O Zion, to all generations. Praise the Lord!

Praising (boasting) in the Lord (146:1)

This Psalm starts with a command to “Praise the Lord!” and ends with the same command, “Praise the Lord!” The first command to praise the Lord causes the writer of the psalm to give his very soul, the heart of his being, the same command. The psalmist is stirring himself up to give praise to the Lord.

But what does this mean? It means that we must boast to ourselves and to others about who God is and what he has done not only for me, but also for others. This can be challenging, especially when things aren’t going to well for us. So when should we praise/boast in God, and for how long.

With every breath until we can’t breathe anymore (146:2)

The psalmist tells himself that he will praise/boast in the Lord until the day that he dies. He will make music or sing praise to God until the day that he breathes his very last breath.

Where people shouldn’t boast (146:3-4)

We shouldn’t put our confidence or boast in any people, because people will eventually die, no matter how rich or powerful they are. No matter how strong they are, or what they plan to do, eventually they will turn back to dust. Man cannot give help or save us, they just aren’t strong enough, and cannot win the fight against the final enemy, death. Only God can save, only God can help.

Where people should boast (146:5-9)

We should put our confidence or boast in God, and when we do, we will be rewarded with the happiness or blessedness that comes from it. But with all the trouble and difficulty in life, how can I say this?

Because God is our helper and our provider (146:5-7a)

We will have happiness, because God, the God of Jacob, is our help. Imagine you, a full grown person, were drowning in a swimming pool. How confident would you be if the person that was going to help you was a four-year-old? Not very, you would probably drown. But our God is the one who was with Jacob, who prospered, protected and provided for him throughout his life. Because he is our God, the covenant-keeping, faithful God, and our help, we can hope in him with complete confidence. We may not be able to trust a child to save us, but certainly the Maker of heaven, earth, the sea and everything in all of these.

This is someone what you can depend on, this is someone who you can have hope in, this is someone who will help you, this is a great reason to be happy.

But we will also have happiness, because God keeps faith forever. This means that he is trustworthy, that whatever he says he will do. If he promises you something, you don’t have to worry, he will keep his word. All his promises are sure and true.

But we will also have happiness, because God performs justice for those who are oppressed. God gives food to the hungry. God doesn’t turn a blind eye to all the sufferings that you have experienced in oppression. God doesn’t ignore all those who hurt you and seemed to have gotten away with it. No, God will eventually bring justice to all of the situations in the earth that need to be cleaned up. He will right all the wrongs.

But God will also provide for your needs. You don’t have to fear, if you are God’s child, he will take care of you. He gives food to the birds and the plants, he certainly will feed you.

So here is the first set of things that we can praise God for, or boast about him (God as helper and provider): he is our help; he is our hope; he is the Maker of everything; he keeps his promises; he brings about justice; he feeds the hungry.

Because God is our redeemer (146:7b-9)

Next we see the ultimate reason why we should have confidence and happiness in God. God is our redeemer.

Our covenant faithful God is one who gives freedom to those who are in bondage. He set the Israelites free from slavery in Egypt, and he sets us free from slavery to Satan. God redeems us from slavery.

But he also gives us sight, he opens the eyes of the blind, to those who cannot see. Not only does God bring healing to many who are sick and troubled, like Jesus did in his earthly ministry, but God removes our spiritual blindness and gives us eyes to see him. God redeems us from our blindness.

But he also exalts the humble, he lifts up those who are bowed down. God loves those who are righteous in his sight. He loves those who are in Jesus Christ, have been saved by him and have been given the righteousness of Christ.  Those who have been saved by God recognize that we are sinful and we live lives of humility. These lives of humility are pleasing to God. God lifts up the lowly.

But he also cares greatly for the marginalized. Quite often, wanders who have no home are mistreated and neglected. Those who are travelling and wandering are lost and have no one to take care of them, but God watches over them. The widow who has no one to take care of her, and the children without fathers are held up by God. God has a special eye on the marginalized.

But we can be confident that God will not allow the evil to go unpunished. God will bring the wicked people to their proper end. Whether that be in this life, or in eternal punishment, God will bring justice to those who oppress, to those who are evil.

All of this is fantastic, and we can boast in and praise God in all this, but we have even more to boast about when we can actually see these things accomplished in the Son of God. Listen to what Jesus said about himself and his ministry in Luke 4:18-19:

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.

Don’t forget that Jesus Christ is the Word of God, and that he created the world and all that is in it. Don’t forget that Jesus Christ is the true promise of God who died so that everyone who believes, from Adam, to Noah, to Abraham, to David, to us could be saved. Jesus is the true faith-keeping of God.

But here is Luke 4, Jesus says that he proclaims liberty to the captives, the prisoners, he sets at liberty the oppressed, he brings recovery of sight to the blind, and he brings in favor. This is the one who gives food to the hungry, fed the 5,000, and is himself the bread of life.

You see, Jesus is the fulfillment of this Psalm. Jesus is the reason we can praise God, Jesus is the reason that we can boast in God. Jesus is our God, our friend, our brother, and our King.

We can praise and boast in God, even when our lives our troubled, because it is God who brings us blessing or happiness. Don’t simply look at the present, or isolated events in the past, look to the overall course of redemption, and what God has truly done for you in Christ, and Praise the Lord!

Because God will never stop being in control (146:10)

If these weren’t enough reasons to boast in God, we are given one more. That God will never stop being in control. God will always be King, from times past, to present, to forever, God will rule and reign over all. We can have confidence that our God is on the throne ruling, protecting, providing for, defending us, and conquering all his and our enemies. Jesus Christ rose from the dead and ascended to heaven, where he sits at the right hand of God, reigning until he has put all his enemies under his feet.

Therefore, let us boast in the Lord! Praise the Lord!