What does it mean to praise God?
Praise runs through the Bible from the Psalms to the last songs of heaven, yet many people are unsure what it actually is — a feeling, a song, or something said out loud. The commentators press one question above all: what is it that God receives when we praise Him?
What Praise Actually Is
The clearest definition comes from Hebrews 13:15, where praise is called the fruit of lips that acknowledge His name. One writer draws a sharp line between praise itself and the emotion that often comes with it.
Samuel RidoutWe have here an important definition of praise. Sometimes people have an idea that it is the feeling in our own hearts; but that is its result, rather than praise itself. Praise is "the fruit of our lips confessing His name." God appreciates your joy, the happiness that fills your hearts and overflows; but there is one thing He appreciates infinitely beyond all our feelings, and that is Christ Himself confessed to God. It is a wonderful deliverance to realise that true praise is simply offering up to God the fragrance of Christ.
Praise, Thanks, and Worship
Commentators distinguish praise from its near neighbours, though not all in the same words. One suggested arrangement ties each to a different aspect of God.
George DavisonIt has been suggested that we thank God for what He has done; we praise Him for the way He has done it; but we worship Him for what He is in the supremacy of His being as the Supreme One to our souls.
Another writer keeps praise itself broad enough to cover both God's person and His deeds, and separates it from thanks by what prompts it.
Leslie M. GrantPraise is vocal, "the fruit of our lips, confessing His name" (Heb. 13:15). Praise can be for the Person or for His work... Thanksgiving, on the other hand, is for something received.
Who Is Qualified
Praise is priestly work, and the question is who counts as a priest. The answer given is not a trained class but anyone who has received God's Spirit.
J Wilson SmithWhat is the anointing, the consecration, by which their priesthood is assured? It is the reception of the Spirit of God. All who can truly cry "Abba, Father," who can consciously address God in this way, these are anointed; they have received His Spirit, and this is true of every child of His — every Christian today. They are a "royal priesthood," so that they should show forth the praises of Him who has called them out of darkness into His marvellous light.
Christ Leads the Singing
Our praise is not the first voice raised. Hebrews puts a song in the mouth of the Lord Himself, standing among His people.
H J VineThe One who is in our midst says "I will sing!" Nor will He fail to do so! We may, but, blessed be God, our Lord and Leader continues to sound the praises of God, as we read, "I will declare Your name to My brothers; in the midst of the assembly I will sing Your praises" (Heb. 2:12). He makes God known to us and He sings praises to God.
When You Don't Feel Like It
If praise were a mood, a low mood would end it. One writer gives a practical way back in for the person who wants to praise and cannot find the words.
G. V. WigramDo you ever feel that you ought to praise, and yet your heart is out of tune, and you cannot think of anything to say? Just repeat what God has done for you; and that will be the best praise you can give.
Praise in Bad Circumstances
Paul and Silas sang at midnight in the jail at Philippi, beaten and locked in the stocks. The setting is treated not as an obstacle to praise but as its backdrop.
C. H. MackintoshWhat are stripes or stocks, or prison walls, or gloomy nights, to living stones and holy priests? Nothing more than a dark background to throw the living grace that is in them into bright and beautiful relief. Talk of circumstances! Ah, it is little any of us know of trying circumstances. Poor things that we are, the petty annoyances of daily life are often more than enough to make us lose our mental balance.
Praise That Is Lived, Not Sung
Peter's call to show forth God's praises is read by one writer as something visible rather than audible. (The ESV renders the phrase "proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.")
William J HockingThis is not necessarily singing the praises of God, but the testimony that they render in the world as evidence of God's spiritual work in their life history. A man who is a drunkard believes the gospel; he emerges from the squalid condition he was in. He is a new man. He lives in the world to the glory of God, and men look at him and ask, What has brought this about?
Why It Matters to God
Praise is not decoration added to real religion. It is what puts God on display. (Psalm 50:23 in the ESV reads, "The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me.")
Numerical Bible NotesThe glory of God is simply the manifestation of Himself; and "whoever offers praise glorifies Me," says the Lord Himself (Ps. 50:23): it displays Him in His rightful character, as the "blessed God." To know Him really is to bless Him.
Summary
- Content — Praise is not a warm feeling but Christ confessed to God with the lips; the feeling is a by-product.
- Qualification — No special class offers it; receiving God's Spirit makes every believer one of the priests who praise.
- Company — You never sing alone: Christ Himself sings God's praises in the middle of His gathered people.
- Conditions — Stocks, stripes and midnight did not silence it, and a heart out of tune can start again simply by rehearsing what God has done.
- Consequence — Whoever offers praise glorifies God, and a changed life goes on saying it after the singing stops.