Why Praise God?

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Scripture: Psalm 89:5-8 (ESV)

5  Let the heavens praise your wonders, O Lord,

your faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones!

6    For who in the skies can be compared to the Lord?

Who among the heavenly beings is like the Lord,

7    A God greatly to be feared in the council of the holy ones,

and awesome above all who are around him?

8    O Lord God of hosts,

who is mighty as you are, O Lord,

with your faithfulness all around you?

 

                We are going to look at the reasons the psalmist praises God in this psalm. Once in a while it good to meditate on just how great and glorious our God is. God is often put down or just ignored in our culture today. We are told that our God is “dead” and there is no point in living our lives in way that would be pleasing to him. Well, I believe the rumors of his death are greatly exaggerated. They are simply trying to wish God away, but God does not obey human wishes for his demise. Instead, God tries to get the people of the world to believe in and to worship him.

          Our God has been made known to us in all of the wonders of nature. As Paul said it this way in Romans 1:19-20 (ESV) “19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made.” We humans are left with a choice we can see the universe as evidence of God’s creative majesty, or we can choose to ignore it and pretend that everything that was made by blind chance. God will not force us to see and respond with our worship to creation. However, we ignore it at great peril to our souls.

                Genesis declares that we Human Beings are created in the image of God. Today the culture rejects this. It is said that we, not God, are the ones who control our bodies. We have complete autonomy over every aspect of our bodies and our lives. No one can tell us what to do with them. However, God claims ownership of our bodies in the womb as we read in Psalm 139:13 (ESV)            

‘13      For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.” We are God’s creatures and to God we owe him our very lives. As God was with us in our mothers womb, so he sustains our lives until we die at the time God has determined. At our death we will give an account to God of how we spent our lives. What will we say to him on that day?  

Prayer:

          Lord God Almighty we praise you today for you are our Creator and we owe our very lives to you. We praise you because of your great power that is revealed in your great love for us that you have provided the awesome gift of your son Jesus to assure us of the way to heaven with you. Grant that we may have repentant hearts this day. Forgive us for trying to control our lives instead of giving control to you. Take our lives and let them be ever, always, all for you. Amen.

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