We ‘GLORIFY’ God by truly ‘PRAISING’ Him!
June 13
Bible Reading: Psalms Chapters 45-51
We ‘GLORIFY’ God by truly ‘PRAISING’ Him!
"Now consider this, you who forget God,
lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver: whoever offers praise
glorifies Me; and to him who orders his conduct aright I will show the
salvation of God." (Psalms 50:22-23)
Psalm 50 is
the first of twelve psalms attributed to Asaph. It closes with a warning and a
promise. The warning is to those who forget God and living their lives as if God
doesn’t matter at all. If they do not repent from their ungodly living, God
will pounce on them like a lion and utterly destroy them. But those who come to
Him with sacrifices of thanksgiving glorify Him; all who walk in this pathway
of obedience will experience God’s marvelous deliverances in times of peril.
We must
realize that true worship does not
consist of mere sacrifice, but of sacrifice offered from our lips with
thanksgiving from our hearts. God insists on obedience from the wicked
hypocrites, or they will meet a fearful end finally. However, God also offers them
an opportunity to repent and receive forgiveness as an extension of His grace.
God wants to save all, and His warnings are another expression of His mercy.
Those who respond by restoring pure worship are saved from impending judgment.
Let us note that judgment begins with
God’s people, not with the lost world (1 Pet. 4:17).
Our external
worship is a true index of our hearts. When we are unmindful of God's true character and greatness, we act as if God does not exist even when
we are in the assembly of believers in the middle of a 'worship service’. God has harsh words of condemnation and
punishment in this situation when we disregard the very presence of God. Our sincere
worship emanating out of our purified hearts are the prime evidence of our true
piety, and we will then enjoy God's presence, favor and salvation. This is how William
Temple has defined worship:
“For to worship is to quicken the
conscience by the holiness of God, to feed the mind with the truth of God, to
purge the imagination by the beauty of God, to open the heart to the love of
God, to devote the will to the purpose of God.”
We glorify God by truly praising Him! The church is the opposite of a
theatre. In the church, God is the audience of our worship. What matters most
takes place in the heart of the congregation, and not on the stage or pulpit.
We should never leave a church worship service asking: “what did I get out of it?”, but rather “was God pleased with my worship?” What God wants from us is our
praises out of our sincere hearts through our lips resulting in our worship
through submission and thanksgiving!
