Jeff Carter
But…why? If I may be so bold to ask—why do we praise God? And more to the point, why does God ask us, and even seemingly demand for us to praise Him? Beyond even the most obvious reasons of worth and glory and beauty; beyond the example the Psalms demonstrate in giving witness to the massive depths and majestic heights inherent to beholding the great splendor of who God is—does praise yet serve another purpose?
C.S. Lewis, when he was exploring Christianity as an agnostic, found one thing about the Christian faith most disturbing. He found it strange that all religious people should clamor for us to “praise” God; and still more odd that God should demand praise from us. He says we all despise the man who “demands continual assurance of his own virtue, intelligence or delightfulness,” and that we despise even further the crowd of people around such a one who gratify that demand. That was the picture he was getting of Christianity; that of a God who was saying, “what I want most of all is to be told, I am good, I am great.”
What Lewis eventually came to understand is that God’s revealing of Himself to us, accomplished most clearly in our praise and worship of Him, is the most loving act God can do for us. God’s demand that He be praised works toward our highest good; namely, our exposure to His greatness, purity, and glory. God is the beautiful, all-satisfying object we all truly need.
But even beyond the indescribable gift of Himself to us, Lewis offers a more subtle purpose. He goes on to describe his initial misunderstanding of God’s desire for praise as likened to a vain woman fishing for compliments, and then offers up this pivotal quote:
But the most obvious fact about praise-whether of God or any thing-strangely escaped me. I thought of it in terms of compliment, approval, or the giving of honor. I had never noticed that all enjoyment spontaneously overflows into praise unless (sometimes even if) shyness or the fear of boring others is deliberately brought in to check it. The world rings with praise-lovers praising their mistresses, readers their favorite poet, walkers praising the countryside, players praising their favorite game-praise of weather, wines, dishes, actors, motors, horses, colleges, countries, historical personages, children, flowers, mountains, rare stamps, rare beetles, even sometimes politicians or scholars. I had not noticed how the humblest, and at the same time most balanced and capacious, minds, praised most, while the cranks, misfits and malcontents praised least . . . I had not noticed either that 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?” The Psalmists in telling everyone to praise God are doing what all men do when they speak of what they care about. My whole, more general, difficulty about the praise of God depended on my absurdly denying to us, as regards the supremely Valuable, what we delight to do, what indeed we can’t help doing, about everything else we value.
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 till it is expressed. (C. S. Lewis, Reflections on the Psalms, [New York: Harcourt, Brace and World 1958], pp. 93-95—emphasis mine)
What Lewis is saying is that our delight of God is only partial until it is voiced in praise. Our praise of God deepens, completes, fulfills, and even consummates the joy that we have in Him.
God’s desire that we praise Him serves to expose to us the most profitable, valuable, desirable, and needed object that humanity can experience. His self-revelation to us and His demand that we interact with Him through praise is not only the most loving thing God can do for us, it is the only way for us to fully and completely experience the joy and delight exposure to God can bring.
As we start the new year, let us do so with hearts full of praise—and let that carry us long beyond this brief season of good tidings of great joy. May we have a renewed gratitude for the gift that God gives us of enjoining us to praise.
– Jeff
(Portions adapted from “Desiring God” by John Piper, The Mission Statement of Bethlehem Baptist Church)
Special Needs
For those who are not familiar with Josh and Irena we wanted to give a little overview. Josh Takahashi is a “marketplace evangelist.” Giving private English lessons in the Czech Republic is his ministry platform. Before he accepts adult students for English lessons, he tells them up front that he will be challenging them to think critically about controversial subjects. Their culture (and that of most of Europe these days) accepts such unbiblical concepts as unmarried couples living together, having children out of wedlock, homosexual “marriage,” abortion, etc. Josh introduces his adult students to what the Bible says about these concepts.
Josh’s students are a cut above the average, and some will likely be in leadership positions in the future. So Josh will have an outsized influence upon Czechs’ uncritical acceptance of current cultural trends. On a recent visit to Josh & Irena, friends of HaDavar were able to document some of their needs, which include rent for the class office, a screen for presentations, and eventually a car so they can offer courses in companies around the region. Please consider making a special gift to Josh & Irena to support their important work.