Making the Theological Understandable
When is the last time you sang praises to God? I mean really singing with all the passion you could muster…?
Are they just words on a screen or in a hymnal? Or are they words swelling with thanksgiving, rising up from within your heart? Rejoice in Him! He is the Most High God.
A wholehearted praise notices everything! The Lord has blessed us so abundantly and all the little things combine together to reflect God’s wonderful works.
The color of the sky. The flowers. The birds. Butterflies. Creatures of all types. A baby’s smile and giggle. The tender arms of a mother and the strong arms of a father. The twinkle in the eyes of laughter or in the stars in the sky. The grandeur of the mountains and the peaceful ripples on a lake.
Each and every one is worth telling as among His wonderful works.
The Scripture pictured below articulates a question that is eternal in its significance. Why does God even care what happens to us? Why did God make humans alone in His image? We are so small and unimpressive and yet God–the sovereign Creator of the universe–cares for us. This is beyond humbling. His mindfulness of our helpless estate is worthy of our praise.
Sometimes adults think they’re too smart. We become too proud. We think we’ve outgrown our need for God. We call Him a crutch for weaklings and only suitable for intellectually deficient people who can’t figure out life on their own. We say the spiritual equivalent of “Me do it!” as if we’re 2 years old all over again, throwing a tantrum.
Isn’t it ironic, that God ordains praise from the lips of babies and that’s how He chooses to silence the proud?
How do we praise Him? We can praise His Name.
There’s a poem by Cecil F. Alexander (1848) called “All Things Bright and Beautiful” and it begins:
All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful:
The Lord God made them all.
Each little flower that opens,
Each little bird that sings,
He made their glowing colors,
He made their tiny wings.
I was thinking about that today because one of the joys of gardening and feeding the birds is the short window of migration when these jewels of nature wing their way through my yard. The year round residents of goldfinches and cardinals and blue jays have been joined by migratory indigo buntings and rose-breasted grosbeaks. It will not be long before the scarlet tanager and the Baltimore orioles and hummingbirds will be here, too. In their colorful beauty and their cheerful song, I am certain they are praising the LORD.
Everything that has breath praises the LORD. The trees clap their hands (Isaiah 55:12) and if we fail to praise God, even the rocks cry out.
Luke 19:36 As he went along, people spread their cloaks on the road. 37 When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen: 38 “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” 39 Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!” 40 “I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”
Let us praise Him! No one should be outdone by the trees and the stones.
Strange to think about, that the lightning and hail, snow, clouds and wind can do the LORD’s bidding. It’s even more strange to think that they praise Him. How do they praise Him except to obey?
I wonder what sea creatures do when they praise the LORD. Does praise just happen in their doing what they were created to do?
Everything that has breath received its life from its Creator. Therefore, it is only fitting that everything that has breath should praise the Lord.
