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“O praise the Lord, all ye nations: praise him all ye people. For his merciful kindness is great toward us: and the truth of the Lord endureth forever. Praise ye the Lord”—Psalms 117:1-2
Our praise to God equates to an expression of gratitude on our part for his loving kindness seen in his mercy, grace and deliverance (1 John 3:1, Col. 1:14-16). Praise him because he gives and sustains life. Praise him because his love is one that cannot be measured by human standards (Rom. 5:8, Heb. 5:7-8). Praise him because his truth endures forever and what he has promised to do, he will do (1 Pet. 1:25, Heb. 6:17-19). Hear the Psalmist as he says, “Praise ye the Lord. I will praise the Lord with my whole heart….” (Ps. 111:1). Our praise to God should come from hearts filled with a love for him that will let nothing interfere with a full, complete surrender to his will. Lovingly trusting him, we turn our lives over to him, take his hand in ours and with praises on our lips for his goodness and mercy we make our way down the pathway of life (Micah 6:8, Luke 2:20, Acts 2:47). Paul tells us to be thankful in everything for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus (1 Thess. 5:18). Being thankful for the blessings, temporal as well as spiritual, that God has blessed us with should cause us to praise him not only in our worship assemblies but also in our walk with him each day (Ps. 18:49, Rom. 15:9-11). During the course of my 80 years of life on this earth, I have experienced moments of joy beyond measure and I have also walked through one of the deepest, most agonizing moments that can ever be experienced by a mortal human being and undoubtedly the same is true with each of you. But I tell you in this hour, I am convinced today that we can always find something to be thankful for that will cause us to lift up our voice in praise to our God (Rom. 8:28,31). As a faithful child of God, we never take one step in this life alone (Heb. 13:5).
We live in a time in which America needs to hear and heed the Psalmist cry to praise God. Too often we apply this principle only to temporal affairs of our lives overlooking the fact that it also applies not only to our spiritual lives but also to the spiritual life of our nation. When a nation of people make God an integral part of their lives, praising and honoring him, they will become an exalted nation. On the other hand when a nation of people become steeped in sin, when they begin to embrace those things that are abominable in the sight of God, when immorality permeates its society, when a nation of people begin to call evil good and good evil, then that nation will become despicable in God’s sight (Rom. 1:18-32, Gal. 5:19-21). Today, in America, the words of Proverbs 14:34 need to be shouted from the rooftops: “Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people”.
Praise God from whom all blessings flow, praise him all ye people here below—Psalms 22:23, 148:7.
Charles Hicks