Hope you’ll forgive me sharing some thoughts from our Bible study on Nehemiah 9 since it’s all about the focus of this wonderful month of November—gratitude and praise to the Lord, who is the Giver of all good gifts!
In this prayer, the Levites begin by praising and worshipping God: “Stand up and bless the Lord your God from everlasting to everlasting. Blessed be your glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise.’ (Neh.9:5-6) The starting place for prayer, and indeed for all of life if we want to be filled with joy—is praise of Almighty God. Everything begins by looking up. When we look up in praise and worship to our Lord and Maker, all the other things swirling around us take on their proper perspective.
What is disease compared to Jehovah-rophe, our Great Physician who is our Hope and Healing? What are our financial challenges compared to the One who made everything, owns everything, and sustains everything and is our Jehovah-Jirah—our Great Provider? What are our relationship difficulties compared to Jesus who is our Peace and Jehovah-Shalom, our Lord who sends peace? No problem, no person, no pain, no perplexity can ever begin to compare to the power and glory of our Lord.
So what does it mean to praise? Well, it means taking yourself out of the way and instead being fully occupied with adoration of the Lord. For instance, we praise and meditate upon His glorious names found throughout Scripture. I just mentioned a few, but He has so many because He’s infinite! Here’s a couple more: Jehovah-Nissi, meaning “God is our Banner,” for He’s our Source of victory. Adonai—meaning “Master” or “Lord.” Elohim—meaning “Strength” or “Power.” “El-Shaddai” meaning “God Almighty, the God who is all sufficient and the Source of all blessings.” Father—He’s our Abba, our Daddy, who knows and loves each of us individually. Emmanuel—God with us. Lamb of God. Savior. The wonderful list goes on and on, so that we’ll never lack for praise-ammunition!
Moreover, we praise God by recounting His beautiful, perfect character. His attributes such as His holiness, faithfulness, mercy, love, grace, sovereignty, omnipotence, omniscience and on and on. In the Levites prayer in Nehemiah, they praise Him in v.6 as the Exalted One and the Creator, Sustainer, and Preserver of the universe. “You are the Lord, You alone. [Amen!] You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all that is in it, the seas and all that is in them; and You preserve all of them; and the host of heaven worships You.”
If you need some inspiration for adoration of God, just open your eyes and look around you! He crafted every beautiful tree arrayed in fall’s finest, every bird soaring overhead, every tiny baby in all his or her astounding intricacy, every peaceful, glowing sunset, and every microscopic cell of your body that allows you to see, think, hear, and feel. AMAZING!! Such is our God and there is NONE other!
We adore and praise God because He is infinitely worthy of all our praise, but remarkably, our Great God also uses our praise to bless and encourage usI What a Lord we serve! More on that tomorrow since I’ve already gone on and on.
But here’s the point—give God praise! Spend time daily--beginning today--praising Him for who He is and what He has done. He is worthy, worthy, worthy (and you will be encouraged and strengthened in the process--only our God!)
To God be the glory.
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