Sunday 21st April 2024
Let everything that has breath praise the LORD.
Praise the LORD.
Psalm 150:6 (NIV)
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
It all ends in cheers
That is the heading Christopher Watkin gives to the conclusion of his “journey through the pages of the Bible” in his book Biblical Critical Theory. I like it. There may be tears along the way, indeed there certainly will be, yet for the Christian it will not end in tears, but in cheers – cheers for God.
The book of Psalms contains the full range of emotions along the way, but it lands solidly in the final seven psalms (144-150) with urging us again and again to “Praise the LORD.” The final psalm (150) urges everyone and everything to praise the Lord in every place with with everything they have. In a similar way, the book of Revelation ends the Bible with repeated calls to praise the one who sits on the throne and the Lamb (for example Revelation 4:11, 5:12-13, 7:12, 19:5). He is “worthy … to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honour and glory and praise (5:12).
If it is true that “a major distinctive of a Christian way of being in the world is that, sooner or later, everything ends with praise,” then we should expect praise to be part of our way of being even now, as we live as people of the future. Is it? Do we take time to praise God, and not only when we are led to do so in church on Sundays, but also when we are alone with the Lord? I confess it is something I feel I am still learning to do, and find I rely on hymns and written prayers to help me.
And praise is more than gratitude: “Gratitude is an important part of praise, but it is not the whole ballgame. Gratitude uses God’s gifts as a stepping-stone to reach out to the giver, but in praise the giver himself takes centre stage.” Those are wise words. It is one thing to thank the giver for a gift; it is another to praise the giver.
Another writer has put the matter even more forcefully: “theology without doxology is idolatry.” That is, if what we know about God does not lead us to praise him, then what we know is wrong. It also means there is no room for merely understanding the truth about God. It should lead us to worship.
So what can we praise God for? It is a long list, but here are a few things we could start with: we can praise God for his love, his faithfulness, his truthfulness, his holiness, his justice, his righteousness, his immortality, his eternality, his omnipresence (that is, he is present everywhere), his knowledge, his wisdom, his power, his constancy, his unchangeableness, his compassion, his mercy, his grace…
There will be tears along the way, sometimes many tears and seemingly unending tears, but with this God on the throne, we can be confident that it will not end that way. No, it all ends in cheers.
“To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honour and glory and power, for ever and ever!” (Revelation 5:13).
Yours warmly, in Christ,
Chris Hobbs (Senior Minister)