Praising God

Happy Sunday. There is a legend that once upon a time God sent two angels to earth on a special mission. They were to collect all the prayers of God's people. One angel was to collect all of the petitions; those are the prayers that were asking for something. And the other angel was sent to collect all of the prayers of praise.

The one sent for petitions had to make countless trips back to heaven with all of the requests. The one sent for praise, well, he had to search far and wide for a handful of prayers that praised God. As the new year begins, I've been looking at my prayer life. One adjustment I have made is to praise God more than ever before.

Don't get me wrong, I still have plenty that I ask God about daily. I ask for health and protection and direction and revival, and I pray for friends and family. But this year I've made a great effort to praise God more than anything else. Think about it. Don't you think that God tires of hearing His name in vain? Don't you think that God tires of being ignored, of being ignored altogether?

Today I want to begin by reading to you a story from Luke chapter 17. It's found in verses 11 to 18. There we are told, "On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee. As he entered a village, ten lepers approached him. Keeping their distance, they called out, saying, 'Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.' When he saw them, he said to them, 'Go show yourselves to the priest.' And as they went, they were made clean. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. He prostrated himself at Jesus's feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus asked, 'Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they? Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?'"

When Jesus sent the lepers to see a priest, it seems likely that most of them were Jewish, and that time a priest had to declare you clean before you could re-enter society. It's interesting to see that they were made clean only after they obeyed Jesus and headed to see the priest. It's also very interesting and sad to see that only one returned to praise Jesus, and he was not even Jewish. It's sad to see that sometimes the religious can be the most ungrateful.

To me, Jesus seems hurt here. He wanted to be praised, and only one out of ten took the time. How ungrateful we must appear at times. I'm talking to myself here, but I bet you can relate. We can be long on request and short on praise.

Churches are all so different. Some take a great deal of time to praise God with music. People stand and raise their arms, and some even dance. I grew up with the old hymns, and there wasn't a lot of raised hands. I grew up Southern Baptist. We didn't speak in tongues or holler or jump up and down or dance.

What am I supposed to do? How do I praise God? What's a good Baptist do? Well, we go to the Word. Let's see what the Bible teaches us about praising God. A great place to begin is the book of Psalms. Depending on what version of the Bible you use, the word praise is mentioned over 175 times in Psalms.

There are many psalms to look at, but today we'll look at mostly Psalm 150. There we are told, "Praise the Lord! Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heaven! Praise him for his mighty works; praise him for his unequaled greatness! Praise him with the blast of the ram's horn; praise him with liar and harp! Praise him with tambourine and dancing; praise him with strings and flutes! Praise him with a clash of symbols; praise him with loud clanging symbols. Let everything that breathes sing praises to the Lord! Praise the Lord!" That's Psalm 150.

In most of the psalms in the Old Testament, the word for praise is the Hebrew word halal. It means to shine, to make a show, to boast, to rave, to celebrate, to be clamorously foolish. In a nutshell, praising means to make a fuss over. Do you know any obnoxious grandparents? That's a great illustration of how to praise.

It would be a great resolution this year for all of us to praise God, to brag on Him, to thank Him. When you look back at your life, I'm sure that you could make a long list of things to thank God for. Praise is our gift to God. God loves it, God deserves it, God desires it. We are told in Psalm 113:3, "From the rising of the sun to its going down the Lord's name is to be praised."

Maybe you're a musician and can praise God through music. They did a lot of that in Psalm 150. Maybe you can't carry a tune in a bucket, and singing is something you that you just shouldn't do. You can say, "Thank you, God." You can say, "Praise you, God," all day long. Give it a try.

That day long ago when Jesus healed those 10 lepers, one was singled out for praising Jesus. Nine were singled out for being ungrateful. How would you describe your life? It's never too late to change. Praise God.

Let's pray together. Lord, as we look at our lives and our prayers, let us see that You are worthy of praise, whether we sing it or whether we shout it, whether we raise our hands or whether it is a quiet prayer in solitude. Let us boast and brag about all You do.

Father, this world ignores You largely. Help us to be people that You look at and that You are thankful for, because we give credit where credit is due as we praise You for all You have done. In Jesus' name, amen. God bless.