Sing Praises! Sing Praises!

Psalms 47:6-7 Sing praises to God, sing praises! Sing praises to our King, sing praises! For God is the King of all the earth; Sing praises with understanding.

Do we truly know what it means to praise God? Do we truly consider who God is when we praise Him? Is our praise the result of an emotional moment? Maybe we are in corporate worship and the music causes us to feel a certain way, and it moves us to praise Him. But is that praise with true understanding? God is not interested in mindless praises. He does not want us to offer up fairweather praise that is shallow, at best, and disappears when troubles appear. The psalmist wrote these words, praising the Lord because He is Ruler of the earth. He reigns over the nations. This is something that may not seem so by the way things are going in the world today. Let me reassure you that God is still in control, and a time is coming when Jesus will rule over the nations; and we will have the privilege of ruling and reigning with Him. However, for the time being we are here, in a world where often times there seems to be no reason to praise or to give thanks. But, if we have a real understanding of who God is and what is to come; then we have many reasons to sing praises to Him today, and every day! Hebrews 13:15 tells us, "Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His Name." This is praise to be given because of the sacrifice Jesus made for us so that we can have eternal life. Note that our praise should be sacrificial, and given through Christ, who enables us to give it from a genuine heart. It is Jesus who gives us the joy, peace, and the power, to praise God, not just when we are living a mountaintop experience, but also when we find ourselves walking through the valleys of life. If we understand that God is good all the time, and that our circumstances in no way change that fact, then we will be able to praise Him. If we understand that in Jesus we already have the victory, then we can praise Him. If we understand that God will keep His promise that one day Jesus will not only return for us, but will also come back with us and establish His Kingdom, then we can certainly praise Him. The bottom line is that we must always be ready to praise God, not with shallow praises, but with praises of understanding. We have a God who is good, who will not be shaken, and who NEVER breaks a promise. How can we not offer up countless praises, even when circumstances may want to dictate otherwise; knowing that this is the God who we serve, and who has given us such a wonderful gift of salvation, in Christ Jesus?

Today, God extends an invitation to you to accept His free gift of salvation (Rom 6:23). Will you accept it? Anyone who calls on Jesus, by faith, in repentance, confessing your sins, will receive eternal life. Do not put off calling on Him, and receive Him and His free gift of salvation today (Rom 10:13).