O Praise His Name
"Now, our God, we give you thanks, and praise your glorious name." (1 Chronicles 29:13 NIV)
A few mornings ago, I got a text from my teenage daughter.
"Look outside!" her message read.
We were both at home, but she was downstairs getting breakfast around, and I was upstairs making the bed. Yelling to me might have awakened her sleeping sister. And say what you will about how technology has been the ruin of face-to-face communication; I'll take this kind of communication from my daughter any way I can get it.
"Look outside!"
I knew right away what she was referring to. I'd already glimpsed the spectacular sunrise painting the sky a swath of pink tinged with orange and swirled with white.
It was glorious.
So glorious, in fact, that it evoked a reaction born into us: to share what is glorious with someone else. To praise it. To draw attention to it. To tell others about it so that its glory is magnified (made bigger) and exalted (made higher) by the telling.
"Praise is prompted by—compelled by—the revelation of something glorious," write Keith & Kristyn Getty in their lovely little book "Sing!" In other words, when we see (the "revelation") something that lifts us beyond the everydayness of earthly life (the "glorious"), we are wired to make a big deal of it (the "praise"). And God's names can help us do this.
When we see a magnificent sunrise, we praise the Creator.
When we hear a beautiful piece of music, we praise the Song.
When we learn that a friend has recovered from an illness or come successfully through a surgery, we praise the Healer.
When we find a solution to a problem that seemed unsolvable, we praise the Way-Maker.
When we're told that someone we love has put their faith in Jesus, we praise the Savior.
"Look outside!"
"Look outside!"
I knew right away what she was referring to. I'd already glimpsed the spectacular sunrise painting the sky a swath of pink tinged with orange and swirled with white.
It was glorious.
So glorious, in fact, that it evoked a reaction born into us: to share what is glorious with someone else. To praise it. To draw attention to it. To tell others about it so that its glory is magnified (made bigger) and exalted (made higher) by the telling.
"Praise is prompted by—compelled by—the revelation of something glorious," write Keith & Kristyn Getty in their lovely little book "Sing!" In other words, when we see (the "revelation") something that lifts us beyond the everydayness of earthly life (the "glorious"), we are wired to make a big deal of it (the "praise"). And God's names can help us do this.
When we see a magnificent sunrise, we praise the Creator.
When we hear a beautiful piece of music, we praise the Song.
When we learn that a friend has recovered from an illness or come successfully through a surgery, we praise the Healer.
When we find a solution to a problem that seemed unsolvable, we praise the Way-Maker.
When we're told that someone we love has put their faith in Jesus, we praise the Savior.
"Look outside!"
I'm going to borrow my daughter's words here and encourage you and myself to do just that. Let's look outside ourselves. Let's look outside our present circumstances. Let's look outside our very real trials (which God very much cares about).
Let's "look outside"...and praise His name.
O God, we praise Your name. Help me to make it known.
"O praise the name of the Lord our God,
O praise His name forever more.
For endless days we will sing Your praise,
Oh Lord, oh Lord our God."
(From "O Praise The Name (Anástasis);" Hillsong Worship; songwriters Dean Ussher, Marty Sampson, Benjamin Hastings; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqBpifDpNKc.)
O God, we praise Your name. Help me to make it known.
"O praise the name of the Lord our God,
O praise His name forever more.
For endless days we will sing Your praise,
Oh Lord, oh Lord our God."
(From "O Praise The Name (Anástasis);" Hillsong Worship; songwriters Dean Ussher, Marty Sampson, Benjamin Hastings; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqBpifDpNKc.)
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I'd love to hear from you! Feel free to tell me what you really think. Years ago, I explained to my then-two-year-old that my appointment with a counselor was "sort of like going to a doctor who will help me be a better mommy." Without blinking, she replied, "You'd better go every day." All of which is just to say I've spent some time in the school of brutal honesty!