Immortal, invisible, God only wise, in light inaccessible hid from our eyes, most blessed, most glorious, the Ancient of Days, almighty, victorious, thy great name we praise. ~ Walter C. Smith (1867)
The Scottish poet succinctly describes our LORD’s incomparable attributes in the hymn referenced here. It is an excellent example of genuine praise. Christian Believers ought to praise God often and refrain from petitions and wishes. It will not be easy if one is suffering, but the uplifting power of praise has exponential benefits. Praise for God the Father, Jesus Christ the Son, and God the Spirit seems to activate their essence in the Christian Believer. Worry, sorrow, and anger cannot bear the weight of divine glory that inhabits praise.
The word praise is defined as an expression of approval, commendation, or admiration and the extolling or exaltation of a deity, ruler, or hero. Praise is not the same as thanks-giving. While thanks-giving is an important part of one’s relationship with God, it should not be confused with praise. Thanks-giving involves weighing one’s self interests and God’s willingness to provide for them. For example, thanking God for beautiful sunshine seems innocent enough until one realizes another worshiper may need a long, soaking rain for his crops, so he is not as thankful for the sunshine. Pure praise, however, is entirely devoted to the One being extolled.
Some Christians never praise God because they lack intimacy with God. Intimacy is most often associated with love as in marriage, but it occurs in other aspects of daily life. A sports fan can give many reasons for praising his favorite team or player because he has an intimate knowledge of them. The team does nothing of substance to enrich the fan’s life, except to entertain and distract, yet he exalts them with words of praise, special clothing, bumper stickers, flags, and more. I do not mean to criticize these behaviors, but to point to them as examples. If one spent more time observing the LORD at work in creation, learning important details about the LORD’s nature and purpose, and joining others who do the same, there would be sufficient cause for praise.
Too many Christians relate to the LORD as if He owes them something. They feel let down when they do not get what they want from God and they complain of God’s distant silence. It is they who distance themselves from God because they fear expectations that cost too much. A sports fan owes nothing to the team but demands much, but he instinctively knows better about the LORD. “If I praise God all the time, He will want something from me,” he thinks. But when he is in trouble, he imagines God owes provision and protection for... for what? ... Attending religious services? Avoiding major moral failures? ... Donating money?
There is only one kind of person who can truly praise God. It is one who knows from the depth of his being that he has nothing to offer a Creator to whom he owes everything. A person who realizes the immortal, invisible, inaccessible, hid from our eyes nature of our most blessed, most glorious, Ancient of Days, almighty, victorious, God. He understands that such a being is unprecedented and irreplaceable as the loving Creator of all that is, was, and ever will be - and yet, that Being, the LORD, is personally interested in him and determined to save him for eternal intimacy with God the Son.
The Christian Believer no longer resists the love of God, so that faith has quenched fear and he praises the LORD because he just cannot help it. Temporal things cannot stand against the favor of God and His intoxicating majesty. The beauty of the LORD’s grace and love inspires praise for its own sake. It is the genuine character of worship. There is no place for pride and embarrassment in authentic praise, nor is to be imitated for the sake of acceptance. One should not praise the LORD frivolously but with heart-felt desperation - that is, to despair over a lack of adequate words of exaltation. Can you imagine such praise when you are in the middle of a terrible time of suffering? What do you think would happen?
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