Read John 12:20-33 and Psalm 66 ..
Finally we come to a praise psalm. You may be wondering why I have a Praise psalm during Lent at all. Or why I didn't start out with praise and then got darker as we headed to the cross. It's because I think that so often in our lives, praise is most sincerely given after we go through the dark times. When we have reasons to offer praise.
We often get to the joy and awe and gratitude that results in praise only by going through the darkness of the past weeks. We get there through the lamentations of life and the confessions of our wrongs. We understand the need for praise by being thankful for all we have.
I'm not saying that everyone has to go through big dramatic hurts and turmoils in order to be able to praise anyone. What I'm saying is that the daily hurts, the little laments of our lives help bring us to honest praise of the Savior that helps bring us through them all.
And there are so many reasons why we are called to lift our voices in praise! One of the biggest reasons we offer praise is that our delight and enjoyment is greater when we offer praise. The great C. S. Lewis talks about this, saying "Just as men spontaneously praise whatever they value, so they spontaneously urge us to join them in praising it: ‘Isn’t she lovely? Wasn’t it glorious? Don’t you think that magnificent?’ I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment; it is its appointed consummation. It is not out of compliment that lovers keep on telling one another how beautiful they are; the delight is incomplete til it is expressed."
When we delight in something, really delight in it, we naturally want to share it. When I read a book I love, or find a restaurant I like or see a movie I really enjoyed, I want to tell people about it. I want to share just how wonderful the story was, or just how delicious the food was with anyone I know will appreciate it. When I do that, It’s like I get to experience it all over again. My enjoyment of the movie or my pleasure in the food is lengthened because I took the time to remember and praise it to others.
We also offer praise for things that have been done on our behalf. The praise found in Psalm 66 is not just praise for the sake of praise, but is praise because of the confidence found in God’s deeds on behalf of God’s people. It is not praise so that we might get something in return, but praise because of what God has already done for us. It’s recognizing all of the wonderful things that God has done for God’s people over the centuries. The Psalm excitedly tells others about all that God has done for God’s people, because the psalmist is just so eager to share.
Praise is intended to do more than just give thanks, but also to invite others to share in the celebration: "Come and hear, all you who fear God, and I will tell you what he has done for me." It’s saying, "I am so excited about all that God has done, you should be excited too!" It is worship as testimony about God, about who God is and what God has done for God’s people. And in response to this kind of God, the psalm suggests, we should freely and joyfully offer praise and thanksgiving and blessing.
We also praise God because God is worthy of praise! God has done so much for us, both in the history of faith and in our own lives. And for the world! It is an amazing place. Since I have moved to Watkins I am constantly in wonder of the natural beauty of the area: the waterfalls and lakes, the trees and hills. Even the beauty of fresh fallen snow. All of which is created by God. How can you see a really beautiful sunset or sunrise and not be moved to offer praise?
The one thing we shouldn’t do is praise God out of obligation. There are some people who are only giving praise to God because they are supposed to. Not because they feel driven to praise God and not because they think God has done something in their lives, but out of obligation. If we say the words with no feeling behind them, they are nothing but chatter.
Rob Bell has a great analogy for what meaningless praise to God is like for us humans. "It's like when you go to buy your wife some flowers and when she gets them she's overjoyed. Now as she's thanking you, you explain, "well you're my wife, it's my duty." Or "well I wasn't really thinking of you I just saw them, they were on sale, I figured you needed them." Does she even want the flowers anymore? No. Why? Because what she wants is your heart and if she doesn’t have that the flowers mean nothing." If our heart isn’t in it, the praise means nothing. God doesn’t want us to speak words of praise that we don’t mean.
Because, really, God doesn't need our praise. The almighty Creator of the universe doesn’t need our validation to be God. We aren't praising God for God's sake. We're praising God for ours. Because we are so overwhelmed with joy and love and awe and gratitude and those feelings have to come out somehow and we erupt into praise. Because we recognize just how much God has done for us and we want to share it with other people!
If we don’t feel that way, if we don’t have that sense of awe or wonder or joy or gratitude, then the book of Psalms is full of other prayers that we can offer in those times. If instead we are depressed, we can turn to a lament, or if we are feeling guilty we can turn to confession. That’s why there are so many Psalms! There are so many ways we can talk to God because there are so many different reasons we need to. But when we are amazed with the wonder of the world and all the God has done, these Psalms of praise give us words to lift up to God when ours seem inadequate.
They can also give us words when we don’t know what to say at all. I will admit that there are days when I don’t feel very praise filled. I don’t feel particularly bad or guilty, but I also don’t feel like shouting with praise. On those days, I will flip to the Psalms, skimming until one speaks to me and use that one as my prayer. The poetry of the Psalms can often bring me to a state of praise when I am having trouble getting there on my own.
So in this next week, as we head to Palm Sunday where we will shout Hosanna together, let us try to offer praise to God with our whole hearts, knowing all that God has done for us, now and always. Amen.
