IS GOD AN EGOTIST?

 Psalms 103:1 (NIV)

Praise the LORD, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name.

               In my devotions I have been reading Tim Kellers book on prayer. Today, I read about the role of praise to God in our prayers. Keller makes the point that our prayers should begin with praise of God, in order to put everything else into perspective.

               Praise and worship of God is at the center of our faith. We gather on Sundays to give God praise. It is at the very core of what it means to be a community of faith. 50 times in the Psalms we are either commanded or encouraged to praise God. Keller raises the question, why should we praise God? Does God need our praise? Is God an egotist?

               To answer that question, Keller turns to C.S. Lewis for help. Lewis struggled with the idea of praise and worship when he first became a believer. As he put it, we look down on the person who is constantly looking for the praise of others, the person who needs accolades to feel good about themselves. If this is an undesirable characteristic among people, why are we commanded to give praise to God?

               As Lewis contemplated this question, he realized that he had missed on important component of praise. Generally, in life, we praise those things that we value the most. We also praise those things that bring us pleasure. We praise a beautiful sunset. We praise a masterful piece of art. We praise a stirring piece of music. We praise a well-played performance. We also praise the people we love and the things we love. Praise comes naturally to us. It is our normal response to things that move us in some way. We can’t help it.

               But there is another aspect that takes praise even deeper. Our praise actually heightens and completes our experience. Our satisfaction and delight are increased when we genuinely praise something. Suanne and I had the privilege of seeing a Broadway production of Aladdin recently. That was several weeks ago, yet even last night I praised the performance to our son. In a way, our praise allows us to enter back into the experience.

               I experienced the flip side of this years ago as I drove to a meeting in northern Minnesota. I was driving at night out in the country. It was very dark. Then the sky erupted with the northern lights. It was one of the most amazing things I had ever seen. Yet there was no one with me. I wanted to share the experience, to describe it, to praise it, yet I could not. It was so frustrating.

               Lewis and Keller make the point that God invites us to praise Him, not because He needs it, but because we do. Our experience of God is enhanced by praise. Our appreciation of God is deepened through praise. Our love for God is expanded in praise. Our commitment to God is solidified in praise. The more we understand who God is and what He has done for us, our natural response is to give Him praise.

               One of the reasons we may have trouble with giving praise to God is that we have been programmed to find fault rather than give praise. We hear far more criticism in our everyday lives than praise. Excellence is expected as the norm. Anything less is called out. Even within the church we are hesitant to give praise. I knew a man who refused to praise his children because he felt it fostered pride. I really struggled with that as a child. Somehow, I got the idea in my head that to receive praise for something that I had done was prideful and therefore wrong. Jesus’ statements in the Sermon on the Mount about the Pharisees seeking the praise of men haunted me. (Matthew 6:1-18) I often hid my talents under a basket, rather than let them shine, because I was afraid God would be displeased and I would lose my reward. When I did let them shine, I felt guilty.

               God has called us to praise Him for our own benefit. When we genuinely praise God, we can also praise other things with genuineness. When we recognize God as the author of all that is good and right and praiseworthy in the world, then responding in praise is the correct response. We can fully enter into and enjoy the experiences of life without fear or regret.

               God is the ultimate master artist, inventor, creator, designer, musician. When we praise the things He has created, we give Him glory. We can both praise the “performance” and celebrate the author of the play. Praise is a gift that God has given to us so that we might more fully experience the good gifts He has given to us. God deserves our praise because there is nothing greater than Him.

Psalms 103:2 (NIV)
Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits--