Made to Praise

     There is a picture painted in Revelation 5 of the throne room in Heaven. The throne room encompasses this eternal praise by these four living creatures.

"Day and night, they never stop saying: Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty who was and is and is to come" 

As discussed in Genesis one, these four creatures were part of God's creation, leading this eternal worship in the throne room. The throne room is made in the perfect order of eternal worship, which is what life should look like. They never stopped singing. I believe that God created this world for enjoyment and praise, and therefore, we as his created beings on this Earth were made to praise. 

    It has been a month since my college graduation, and it has been a hard couple of weeks. I never really wanted to be done with college, as I really loved that time in my life. I know there are things I am excited to leave behind, but it felt tragic that I had to leave behind some of the things that I loved. My life lately has had many heavy things coming up, and I just did not know how much more I could take. I was praying and trying to read my Bible, but looking back, one thing that has been missing from my life has been praise. I don't mean pretending everything around me is good, but knowing God is good. I don't mean me pretending not to struggle, but turning to God in my struggles. I felt burnt out even though it was supposed to be summer, and I was supposed to rest. I was missing praise, and instead was just going through the motions of a life that has been super heavy lately. 

    The other night at a worship gathering, I realized how little I have danced or actively engaged in worship over the past few weeks. I have been grinding nonstop, trying to figure out post-graduation plans. I have been exhausting myself rather than lifting things I am working on up to God. I realized, too, that God is supposed to be directing my steps, and it will all come in his timing, even though I am trying to rush through it. I came into the worship gathering just thinking to myself: I am not here to perform, I am here to praise from the genuine place of where my heart has been lately. I was tired, overwhelmed, and knew I needed a lot of prayer. We need not to perform, but we need to praise. We need not to look good on a Sunday morning leaving our struggles at the door, we need to bring our messiness to God. 

Praise of God

    It is easy to look around at the world and realize that things just aren't good. There is hurt that runs very deep in our lives and the lives of those around us. We can pretend that it is not there, but the truth is that it is there. This seems like the opposite of praise to take notice of the hurtful things in our lives, but the truth is that taking notice of them and confessing that to God is taking the dark things and bringing them into the light, which is an act of praise. Praise is joyful, and acknowledging the hurt of our lives is joyful because when we acknowledge that pain before God, we don't have to carry the weight of it with us anymore. I said earlier that praise is not pretending that the things in my life are good, but it is knowing that God is good. If God is good, are we bringing the things on our hearts to him? Are we trusting him to provide? Do we have barriers we have built up or self-reliance in our lives? The truth is that God desires for us to bring our real selves to him in a place of allowing him to be sovereign over situations. Praise God honestly that he is over situations that are too big for me to solve because I know for a fact that I am limited. 

    As you can see, praise goes beyond just singing a song, and it is not just ignoring our issues. Praise is trusting God enough to let go and surrender ourselves to him. If God is good, we can do that even in the darkest of times. God is good even when circumstances are heavy. Praise is freeing, and it brings us into a place where we can dance, sing joyfully, laugh, and enjoy life as God created us to do. Part of recovery from my traumatic past has been dancing when things are tough. Dancing releases pent-up stress, and that is important in trauma recovery, where traumatic stress is stored in the body. God made us to move and to dance. Sometimes I just think to myself, "I have been taking things way too seriously and just need to dance". I have never taken a dance class, but I do have fans to dance in front of, I mean literal fans. 

    My junior year of college, I came the closest I have ever come to dropping out; I would have gone back, but I was just struggling every day to get up. Every day was a struggle to get up, and I was so sad for a prolonged period of time. Something I could truly praise God for in that time was that I was not at all alone in it. I could also praise him for the fact that he was still pursuing me even though I was struggling to pursue him. It was a challenge, but praising God goes beyond the good feels of life. We can praise him when we are struggling with everyday life like I was junior year. I remember at that point of my life just being like I don't care what anybody thinks, I am just going to praise the Lord. 

Praise of Others

    Praise of others comes from a place of not elevating others to the place of God, but seeing them as God sees them. What is the first thing you think of if someone cuts in front of you in traffic? Do you get mad? Honk your horn? Say some choice words? I sometimes will think to myself, "Well, that person just isn't taking a Sabbath and I am". I know that people may be out on the road, tired, with situations that are heavy on their hearts. Do you have an inclination to gossip about people who annoy you? I think if we tried to see everyone the way Jesus does, environments would change. Someone I know posted something about gossip, that it is a counterfeit form of intimacy that bonds people over brokenness rather than truth. Gossiping about someone is different than praising that person. In praising the person, we need to recognize that they do have situations that may influence the way they act, alongside the fact that they are a child of God. Of course, it may be hard to praise somebody, but realizing the gifts of people around us is exactly how Jesus lived. He saw the faith of people like the woman with the perfumes and praised them for that when others were critical. 

    Generations are divided because people will say things along the lines of "Kids these days...", or division happens in the workplace or in schools when people spread rumors. Gossip kills relationships. It is so easy to fall into in this world, as people love to vent and complain. Something that prevents gossip is truly going to God first and praying about difficult interactions that we may bring truth to that person. Another thing that needs to happen is rather than being critical, we have a mindset of praise. A mindset of praise involves us looking for strengths in the people around us rather than what we want to change about them, and encouraging them to grow in that. Praising others builds them up to be closer to God and who he has called them to be. Something I was told as a kid all the time was that "You are too sensitive". Honestly, this has led me to bottling up my emotions all the time. Seeing sensitivity as a gift that can be cherished and grown instead can lead to a life of great compassion for others. It is how God created me to be so that my sensitive and caring heart can lead me to deeper prayer. 

    I am entering a field filled with need. Anxiety and depression are rampant issues. Children grow up in very broken homes where they have never been accepted. People attack each other on social media all the time. I think that a part of the issue for mental health is an overall lack of love in our society. We are not the most loving. We stick to ourselves, our own families, and we expect people in our close circles to succeed in life. We criticize those who fall short without understanding what they are going through. People criticize their own children, not even realizing the weight their kids are carrying. All stages of life are difficult, and we need love, not criticism. Love praises, it does not condemn. Discipline requires conviction, not condemnation. We do sin and fall short of the glory of God, but we need discipline and correction, not condemnation. I believe that the love of God that is patient, kind, does not envy or boast, is not self-seeking, and so on, is what this world needs. The people around us don't need another lecture on what they should be doing, but rather they need an encounter with the love and grace of Jesus. 

Hymns as Praise

    I grew up in a Reformed Church until I was about ten years old. The biggest thing I remember from the church was the worship. We worshipped mainly with hymns. After I left my childhood church, I mainly listened to contemporary worship music. A few years ago, I sort of rediscovered hymns and just realized how beautiful they are. They are theologically rich and just have a beauty about them. I have developed an appreciation for hymns and realize the importance of listening to hymns. Scripture talks about being "filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit". (Ephesians 5:19). This is where we need to speak truth over one another in love, which includes praising one another's gifts. I remember going through difficult times and being encouraged through the words of hymns like "This is My Father's World" and "It is Well". They speak such truth like though things seem wrong, God is still ruler and sovereign over all. It has even helped me to forgive what seems unforgivable. 

Made for Praise

    I have noticed how much having little time of praising the Lord has affected me. I have been weighed down by everything and struggling with carrying everything in my own strength. A lack of praise in my life has made it feel like I am not my normal self. I also realize we live in a culture that lacks praise. We gossip and complain about others. Children experience a lack of praise and instead are pressured to achieve. People around us are fighting battles that they are not being given credit for fighting. We complain about circumstances. 

    This past year, my friend and I tried to have a challenge of creating an environment of gratitude around us. I think to create an environment like that, we need to have a heart posture centered on praise. Praise God when it is hard because he won't leave us nor forsake us. Notice when we do fall into complaining or pitying ourselves, and have grace in those moments. Pray over ourselves and others acknowledging there are real issues and real pain. Praise the people around us and try to approach life from an understanding of who they are: children of God with struggles, people who need to hear the good news of the Gospel. What if we praised our friend with a sensitive or caring heart encouraging them to grow in that? What if we praised our sibling who is very outgoing and inclusive encouraging them to go up to the kid who doesn't have many friends? We could look for how people are made in the image of God and tell them how they are made. Maybe a fruit of the Spirit stands out: kindness, joy or patience. How about telling people who are struggling that God can indeed carry those struggles with them because he did carry that on the cross. We should praise those around us and praise the Lord above all else. God is to be praised forever, and eternity starts now and into forever.