I WILL PRAISE THE LORD!

“While I live, I will praise the Lord; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being” (Psalm 146:2).

Naturally, the heart of man longs for love and appreciation. When others appreciate you, you unknowingly feel happy. You receive new strength and vigour. Those children who are not encouraged by their parents stay dejected and defeated. The wife who is not appreciated by the husband remains dejected and leads a purposeless life.

There was a good manager in the workshop of a rich person. The manager efficiently carried out his responsibilities and thereby greatly developed the workshop. But that rich man failed to appreciate the manager even once. One day, a letter from the manager reached the rich man. It was written “Sir, I have worked under you faithfully and energetically for the past thirty years. But, you have neither appreciated me nor encouraged me. I am broken-hearted and so I resort to commit suicide now.” 

Similar to how the heart of man longs for love and appreciation, God also expects them. Right from the day on which you were formed in your mother’s womb, He protects and guides you. He has provided you with the basic necessities of food, clothing and shelter and also family and relatives. He has given you the beautiful nature, variety of fruits, sun and the moon. God who created all these things for you, at last, sacrificed His life for you on the Cross. If you fail to praise God who has done so many good things for you, how much His heart will suffer?

When Solomon built the temple, he arranged two separate groups for praising and worshipping God. Glorifying God is praising and thanking God is worshipping. Praising and worshipping remain as two wings of a prayerful life.

God gave a vision to Isaiah. It illustrated how the angels worshipped the Lord in heaven. The Lord was seated on a throne, high and exalted.  And the trimmings of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphim, each with six wings. With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty;”

God had so many characteristics but the seraphim praised Him for His holiness. Dear children of God, when you praise God saying holy, holy, holy, the holiness of God will surely begin to dwell in you. 

To meditate: “but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct” (I Peter 1:15).