THE PRAISEWORTHINESS OF GOD.
Geoffrey R. Kirkland
Christ Fellowship Bible Church
I will call upon the LORD who is "WORTHY TO BE PRAISED" (1 Samuel 22.4)! God is worthy, infinitely worthy of all honor and praise! The praiseworthiness of God speaks of the full honor and deserved worship given to our exclusive and preeminent God. God is to be praised!
In heaven, the saints sing worthy is the Lamb to take the book for He was slain and purchased men for God with His blood (Revelation 5.9). They continue singing: “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing” (Revelation 5.12).
This kind of thinking should saturate the thoughts of God’s people. Our hearts should well up with bubbling praise and honor to our God who gives innumerable reasons to bless Him. All day, every day, throughout the day, whatever happens each day should not alter our praises of the Lord for He remains the same, unchanging, perfect, good and sovereign. Perhaps this is why the common refrain thunders forth so often in the Bible: “Hallelujah" - Praise the LORD (see, e.g., Psalm 117:1-2; 135.1, 3, 21).
God is exceedingly praiseworthy because of His character, His actions, His creation, and His salvation. Contemplate your God and praise Him for His infinite beauties of His character. His being, His attributes, His personhood, His glories, and His excellencies deserve the highest praises from His creatures. Let your study of God lead to doxology and worship of your God. Second, contemplate your God and praise Him for His actions in history, toward Israel, toward all nations, and toward you and me. Think of the greatness of His works as you survey biblical revelation. From His provisions, to His deliverances, to His electing people to work out His plans, to His sustaining of His people, we have plenteous reasons to stand stunned before our God and praise Him with a cheerful heart. Third, contemplate your God and praise Him for His creation. He made all things with His spoken Word. Nothing rebels when God gives the sovereign word. His decrees stand fast. When God spoke, it was done. And also, contemplate your God and praise Him for His salvation. Think of the mercy of God that pitied you as a child of wrath, running headlong toward eternal hell, and He lovingly, particularly, sufficiently, and powerfully snatched you from the fire and saved you! There was nothing in you to merit this kind of rescuing love. But it was His kindness! Praise be to the Lord! It’s why David said “I will sing praise to your Name, O most High" (Psalm 9.2)
Today, let your heart well up with genuine and honest worship to your Savior as you say with the psalmist: “I will sing to the LORD as long as I live, I will sing praise to my God while I have my being" (Psalm 104.33; 146.2). And amazingly, this is not something that only you and I must do today for this praising God is something that God Himself jealously and passionately does! His own very glory He will not give to another (Isaiah 48.11). We must praise God because He deserves it, and in response to His actions, and because God Himself is passionately committed to His own honor and excellency, but we must also praise God as the goal and purpose of all that He does! Let us praise God for all things, especially our salvation in Christ our Beloved Savior, and let us live to the praise of the glory of His grace (Ephesians 1.6).
**To read more from this blog-series on the Attributes of God, go here.
