Strength through Praise

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Strength through Praise

Scripture:

Psalm 8

1 Lord, our Lord,
    how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory
    in the heavens.
2 Through the praise of children and infants
    you have established a stronghold against your enemies,
    to silence the foe and the avenger.

Observation:

The mighty warrior David knew much about strength.  Much of his life was spent fighting battles and he was known for his physical prowess.  He also knows how to give praise and honor to God.  He worships God, recognizing the hand of God seen in all of creation.  Interestingly he also recognizes the power of the praise of children, possibly even more powerful than that of grown-ups!  It is through the praise of children and infants that enemies are put down, and God is victorious.  

Application:

The purity of praise found in infants and children is powerful enough to put down God's enemies.  Sadly, I wonder what this says about the praise of those of us who are older?  Have we lost the purity of our faith and is it hard for us to believe or imagine the greatness of God?  Or it it possible that we have become so focused on the difficulties of life that we are unable to see the power of God visible in all of his creation?

This is Sunday, our traditional day of praise and worship of God.  As we head off to our places of worship, I wonder how much of that experience is focused on God?  Do we come into the house of The Lord to genuinely praise and worship him, or to have our own enjoyable worship experience?  Maybe we are missing out on this power because we have made it all about us.

What would happen if we went into worship with an attitude of genuine praise for God?  When we enter into his presence all that we do ought to be for and about him.  We should be with concerned with what is pleasing to him, rather than what is pleasing to us.  Genuine praise of God unleashes the very power of heaven.  Could it be that often our worship experience is weak because we are too concerned with what we like and not on what he likes?  We are weakness humans and the heights of heaven are not reached through us, but only through him.

May we head into worship with our hearts and minds focused on giving him glory!  May we look at the mystery of creation which surrounds us on a daily basis and praise God with all of our being.  May our daily times in prayer focus on praise of him.  He is great and mighty and gaily to be praised!

Prayer:

Lord, I praise you today for your mighty works!  Teach me to praise.  Amen.

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