It was a cool, overcast Sunday afternoon. Phil and I and the kids were in the minivan on the way back from Phil’s parents’ house. The four older kids were playing their DS’s or reading, Phil was driving, and I was working on a cross stitch project (there will be a devotion about it later). Timmy was sitting peacefully strapped into his seat watching the world go by. All was quiet, until….
“Yay, Daddy!” Timmy shouted, clapping. “Yay, Daddy!”I turned and looked at him, surprised by this out-of-the blue enthusiasm. Timmy grinned. “Yay, Daddy!” he repeated, continuing to clap.
“Thank you, Timmy,” Phil said.
Timmy shouted again, “Yay, Daddy!”
Several times, Timmy repeated his cheer for Daddy, clapping enthusiastically. It didn’t seem to have been brought on by anything in particular except Timmy’s general good mood. But my husband enjoyed hearing it, and I did, too.
God feels the same way when He hears us praising Him, I realized. Especially when it’s not due to anything in particular except the overflow of our heart.
Often, we spend the majority of our time talking to God in asking Him for things. It’s not bad to ask God for what we need and desire; the problem comes in when we do so to the exclusion of praising Him for His marvelous attributes and actions. Hardly ever do we (even figuratively speaking) clap and say, “Yay, God!”
Yet repeatedly in Scripture we are exhorted to praise God with abandon (see many of the Psalms). We’re even told that God has ordained praise from the mouths of children and nursing infants (see Matthew 21:16). Why are we to praise Him? Why has He ordained for us to do so? Not only because we need to be reminded of how wonderful He is, but also because He loves to hear it.
You know how you feel when your children say, “You’re the greatest mommy in the whole world!” Well, God loves hearing it when we tell Him how great He is! And not just when He’s just granted a request, but any time. For no reason at all other than just because.
How much time do you spend praising God? If your answer is “Not very much,” then wouldn’t you love to bring gladness to God’s heart by praising Him? Don’t you want to bring joy to your Father by telling Him how wonderful He is?Why not tell Him right now?
Psalm 150:2—Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his excellent greatness! (ESV)