Tag Archives: Praise

Let all the earth rejoice—even in darkness

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God is the God of everyone and calls everyone to rejoice in him. The Bible clearly teaches that from beginning to end, but people have often had trouble accepting it.

At one point, God confided in Abraham that he intended to investigate Sodom’s evil. Abraham knew well their wickedness, but prayed for whatever righteous people lived there, declaring, “Will not the judge of all the earth do right?” (Genesis 18:19).

But the nation of Israel ignored God for centuries as they pursued other gods. Then, purged of that sin, they came to regard God as exclusively their own.

… Read the rest

Benedictus: Zecharaiah’s song

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Revised November 29, 2021

Zechariah’s song (known as the Benedictus) doesn’t get nearly the attention as Mary’s (the Magnificat) earlier in the chapter, but it is the first recorded prophetic word since the Book of Malachi some 400 years earlier.

Its outpouring of praise culminates a long life of both piety and disappointment. After years of waiting and hoping, Zechariah, an aging priest, drew the lot for the once-in-a-lifetime assignment of burning incense in the temple. The angel Gabriel appeared to him and said his prayer was answered.

What prayer?

Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth were childless, but one would hardly expect a pious priest to use an occasion of such great honor to pray for personal needs.… Read the rest

How to rejoice when it seems unreasonable

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jumping for joyChristians know that the Bible says, “Rejoice always, pray constantly, give thanks in all circumstances” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18) and “Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say, rejoice” (Philippians 4:4).

In fact, those are the texts of two popular rounds that are probably going through your head right now.

We know what the Word says. That doesn’t make it easy for us to wrap our minds around what it really means or how to do it. Sometimes, life is so miserable that there doesn’t seem to be anything to rejoice about at all.

And yet Paul, the man who wrote those words, didn’t exactly have an easy life.… Read the rest

Lent and the spiritual wilderness experience

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The season of Lent recalls Jesus’ 40-day temptation in the wilderness. All Christians sooner or later go through their own spiritual wilderness. And so, in the Old Testament, did one of the Sons of Korah, who left behind Psalms 42 and 43 to instruct and comfort us in our own struggles with wilderness experience.

These two psalms appear to have been originally one song of three verses with refrain: “Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.” (I use “verse” in the sense of familiar songs or hymns, not in the sense of a verse of scripture.)… Read the rest

What does it mean to praise the Lord?

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God is good
I used to have a lot of trouble dealing with praise in the psalms. So much of it seemed to consist of telling others to praise God, and perhaps the louder the better, but just what is praise? Going around shouting “Praise the Lord” just doesn’t cut it. The first three verses of Psalm 66 demonstrate both my problem and what I eventually learned about praise.

The first verse says, “Make a joyful noise to God, all the earth.” In other words, the throng of people gathered at the temple for worship are not content to offer their own praise. They invite all people anywhere on earth to join them.… Read the rest

Strange instruction from Scripture: Praise God in suffering

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What does the Bible say to do when something wonderful happens? Praise God. That’s obvious enough. What does the Bible say to do when something awful happens? When life is so awful that we wonder if God cares at all? Praise God. Now that’s just not fair!

But it works. When we’re suffering and feel like God doesn’t care, that’s all it is: just a feeling. In reality, he does care, but not necessarily the way we’d find most comfortable. We want to get out of our troubles as quickly as possible. He wants to give us long-term joy and conform us to the image of Christ.… Read the rest