Why Praise God?

Why do we praise God and how?  Does our motivation matter?  What is true adoration? In sorting through these questions, an apparent conflict arose.  There seemed to be two distinct answers to these questions:

1.  Our praise comes out of an understanding of God's interactions with us.  There are countless examples of this in scripture.  Here are a few:

Give praise to the LORD, proclaim his name; make known among the nations what he has done. (Psalm 105:1)
LORD, you are my God; I will exalt you and praise your name, for in perfect faithfulness you have done wonderful things, things planned long ago. (Isaiah 25:1)
I will tell of the kindnesses of the LORD, the deeds for which he is to be praised, according to all the LORD has done for us— yes, the many good things he has done for Israel, according to his compassion and many kindnesses. (Isaiah 63:7)

And elsewhere when the people of God are commanded to remember and worship God, this God is identified as the God who acted - the God who brought them out of slavery, etc.  (For example, see the core teaching of the Old Testament in Deuteronomy 6:1-25)

2.  Genuine praise does not depend on what God has done for us.  Albert Day writes,

We never really adore Him until we arrive at the moment when we worship him for what He is in Himself, apart from any consideration of the impact of His Divine Selfhood upon our desires and our welfare.  Then we love Him for himself alone.

This seems a good caution, for is there not danger of self-worship confused or mingled with God-worship, when we focus on what he has done for us?  Yet at the same time, how can we ever separate our understanding of God from his direct action in our lives?  We cannot worship an abstract idea.

Resolution
This morning matters became more clear to me as I read from Isaiah 43:

"You are my witnesses," declares the Lord,
"and my servants whom I have chosen,
so that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. [...]
I have revealed and saved and proclaimed [...] (v10,12)

God has made us his witnesses - this brings him glory.  The two thoughts unite: we understand who God is because he has revealed it through what he has done for us, and we praise him not because of his acts necessarily, but because of who he has revealed himself to be through them.

Depth

Swimming in the icy waters of the Georgian bay this summer, I once again found that my breath was taken away not by the coldness, but by the incredible depth and clarity of the water. I was suspended over a deep canyon, its rocky bottom only slightly obscured by the tens of feet of water between it and me.

Water is often the thing we turn to whenever we try to understand depth, in any sense of the word. Strangely enough, it is often the cloudy or dark water that seems the deepest; it is doubly unfathomable (there's another water reference!), for we cannot reach nor see the bottom.

Depth, I believe, is something we all long for. No one wants to be shallow. But what kind of depth is it? Is it that kind of deepness of personality that is born of suffering, or the ability to think about things far enough to have them change you? Or that perception that is able to understand the essential things about someone? There is a clear depth like the waters of the Georgian bay, coming from a continued fight for authenticity and integrity. Then there is the kind that I think we are all more familiar with: that borne of such complexity within ourselves that we don't even understand our own ways. But it's not just in ourselves that we seek depth.

This week as I've been reflecting on this topic, I've been rejoicing in that ultimate source of all depth: our God. The hymn from Romans 11 comes to mind:

Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable his judgments,
and his paths beyond tracing out!

Some days I am exhausted by the struggle that is daily spiritual life and lament my limited understanding of God. Yet isn't this one of the most wonderful things about him? He certainly deserves praise without end, for we will never run out of things for which to praise him!

on Sunday afternoons...

I smile warmly at my friend as I sit down with them in the dining hall. "How was your Sunday morning?" I ask, by way of conversation.
"Well," she pauses, almost reluctant to go on, "you might say I went to the Bedside Baptist this morning". She gives me a sheepish grin.
As I try to hide my disappointment, I reprove myself for judging and wonder again if church really consists of going to a service every Sunday morning.

My mind fills with images: I see magnificent stone cathedrals with glowing stained glass, a strange mixture of beauty and solemnity lifting the soul upwards - empty. I see wood slatted shutters pulled across windows to hide furtive worshipers who meet at night to sing and pray and learn more about the Word become flesh. I see drum kits and PowerPoints and someone who stands and sings, awkwardly wondering if he should raise his hands like the person in front of him. And what about those conversations with a friend, each of you sharing your fears hopes, praying with so much care that the tears become part of your praying? Or those long walks when the shared delight in the beauty around makes conversation into something that includes as many silences as words?

Yes, church is much more than Sunday morning. But you could have told me that. The real question is, how do we live intentionally as part of that church? My last post looked at one group of people seeking to answer that question. Whether we are part of the "emerging church" or not, however, we must consider the question. Doesn't being part of the church necessarily involve helping to meet the needs of others, spending time regularly in prayer with fellow believers, spreading the good news, sharing the sacraments, and simply living in loving community with other believers? And how does this all tie into what we do on Sundays, and every day of the week for that matter? I hope and pray that I may be more open to the promptings of the Holy Spirit where change is needed in this area.