A Sacrifice of Praise

"But You are holy, enthroned in the praises of Israel." Ps. 22:3

 This is a fairly fresh concept to me. My eyes were first opened to the idea of God being enthroned on our praise around Thanksgiving 2012, but it's something that I haven't really grasped until last week.

Praise is a fascinating concept to me because it is an action that we must engage in. What's even more fascinating to me is what happens to us when we do place God on a throne of praise. I'm going to try very carefully to convey this thought because it could be easily misconstrued.

We are commanded throughout God's word, and especially in the Psalms, to praise God. I had always thought that we do this out of duty or obligation or... Honestly I didn't even know why we did it. Isn't it sad that for 21 years I lived within this frame of reference, not truly understanding why we lift our voices and songs to God? Why we direct our musical abilities to Him? I was always bad at training my mind to focus on God during any type of musical endeavor because I just couldn't see the point. At the root of the problem was my belief system. I didn't believe God could possibly be pleased with any musical offering I brought, because of how imperfect a person I am. And I thought this about everyone, not just myself. So many times, after being in a time of corporate worship I would think, "Why do we even do this? I mean, I know in the Bible it says we're supposed to sing to God, but I don't get why. Why would a holy, perfect God want me or any of us to sing to Him? He's got the whole world at His fingertips yet somehow I'm supposed to believe He enjoys hearing us sing?"

Thanksgiving 2012 is where I can pinpoint God beginning to change my view of worship through music. I had been listening to a podcast of a sermon series by Louie Giglio that was about anxiety. There are 3 sermons in the series and they are fantastic. The last one though, is my favorite. Louie shared a story from 2 Chronicles 20. Read the whole story here. Seriously, read it. The Israelites are facing destruction and God tells them they will not need to fight. They need only position themselves properly and watch the salvation of the Lord. So, in order to position themselves properly, they had a choir go before their army, singing praises to God. Spoiler alert, God did fight for them, they didn't have to lift a finger, and they were delivered. What is so interesting though, is that they had a choir go before them. They were reminding themselves of who God is, what He had done, praising and thanking Him for all He did and would do. And because of it, they were delivered.

The most interesting concept to me in this story is that if they just believed God, and in believing, do what He told them to do, He would fight for them. What I've been learning about praising God is that when we do, we are reminded of who He is. We're reminded of His promises. We are ingraining them into our minds when we sing them. What you tell yourself over and over again, you start to believe. So, if we are singing the praises of God over and over again, we're actually going to start believing that He is who He says He is and that He can do what He says He can do. When we believe, we do. When we don't, we won't. It's as simple as that.

So, when the Psalmist writes that God is seated on a throne of praise, he doesn't mean that if we praise God, He will be enthroned. God is already enthroned. He doesn't need our praise to put Himself there. No, when we praise God, we put Him and ourselves into the right position. Him onto the throne of our lives, and ourselves at His feet in humble adoration and surrender. When we acknowledge God as being on the throne of our lives, we have no other response but to love.

2 weeks ago I experienced the Holy Spirit moving something inside of me. Freeing me to praise God. Praising God has become something fresh and beautiful for me. I'm not living any longer in the shame of believing that He couldn't possibly be pleased with the sacrifice of praise that I bring to Him. Yes, I will still have tendencies to fall into that thought pattern. But now I know. I know that God wants to hear me praise Him because He knows that when I do, I will be humbled into the correct posture, opening up my heart to the work of His hands that He wants to perform in my life.