What Kind of Praise Does God Want?

Scripture Verse that Caught my attention today: Revelation 4:11 “You are worthy, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will they existed and were created.”

Observation: Our Lord and God is worthy, we are not.

Application: I’ll admit that, at one level, the vision in Revelation 4:8-11 seems a bit much. It’s hard to imagine an absolutely eternal refrain of praise to God and bowing to God, etc. One would think that even God would get weary of such praise. It reminds me of popular speakers who, while thankful for the various standing ovations, nevertheless eventually invite the assembly to be seated so that the speakers can say whatever they came there to say. Even praise gets a little old after a while. We can only process so much of it. After a while it can get to be too much.

Or there’s this fitness book called “body for life.” It’s a decent book to be sure. Definitely worth a look. But at one point the author suggests that, while doing resistance training the person should repeat “I’m building my body for life” with each rep. My son, who also liked the book, thought that was rather cheesy. I’d have to agree. The mantra might be a good motivator once in a while. But to do it rep after rep, day after day would, for me at least, get old fast.

I don’t know if God ever really gets weary of praise or not. But I do know that when Jesus was praised he had a tendency to either deflect it or challenge the depth/sincerity of the praise to begin with. He was able to realize that some praise was deceitful (like when the Pharisees would try to test Jesus or when Jesus betrayed him). Other praise was self-serving (like when the disciples were asking for the seats on the right and left of Jesus or when they wanted to rain down fire on some folks). When people praised Jesus by saying that they would follow him wherever he would go, he reminded them that "foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head." One of the few times he accepted praise was when he was on the cross. To the best of our knowledge Jesus did not object to the sign placed above his head indicating that he was the King of the Jews.

Verse 4:11 of Revelation says that God is worthy because God created all things. Most of us who are Christian would agree with that insight. But later in Revelation the reason for God’s worthiness will be because of the “Lamb who was slain.” For me that is the more powerful, tangible, and lasting witness. And if the “Lamb who was slain” someday desires my continuous praise in the heavenly court…well…it will be time well spent! While on earth, however, I suspect that the Lord might prefer our praise to be mostly in the form of loving service, though perhaps coupled with a weekly standing ovation in worship!

Prayer: Dear Lord, help our praise to be sincere and our service as well. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

(Scripture Readings today included: Ezekiel 8-11, Revelation 4)