“O Lord, I will honor and praise your name,
for you are my God.
You do such wonderful things!
You planned them long ago,
and now you have accomplished them.”
(Isaiah 25:1)
Are you one of those people who praise God only when you’re in church surrounded by other believers? Or are you someone who always has a praise song on their lips? Chances are, realistically speaking, you find yourself somewhere in between, aspiring to be more worshipful in your waking moments. Life gets in the way, doesn’t it? Sometimes the heaviness of a life situation makes it hard to feel grateful to the point you overflow with praise.
Context: For Isaiah, as a prophet of the LORD, he struggled with his own demons of distraction as he took on the abuse of his audience. He was being used by God, but the people weren’t listening. However, this verse opens a chapter full of hope, giving God the glory for being true to his word. Isaiah calls out both judgment and salvation, so depending on your relationship with God, these verses make you celebrate because of the hope or cower because of fear of doom.
My takeaway is the call to praise no matter what. There are so many verses in the Bible that can help us “get our praise on.” God created us to honor him with our worship and be in relationship with him so he could help show us how to enjoy life. This is one of those verses, and it gives us two concrete reasons why we should praise.
One of these is recognizing who God is. Isaiah says, “you are my God.” Think of it. Isaiah’s God is the very same God we have the honor of being in relationship with all these years later. How does it make you feel to know you belong to God, and he is yours? By spending time in His word, we get to know who our God is and can clearly see all the reasons there are to praise him.
The other reason for praise happens when we remember all the wonderful things God has done. Not only for us, but God has been working miracles and providing for his people since the dawn of time. Reflecting on how God moves in our lives can’t help but bring us to our knees in grateful praise. It’s nearly impossible to not praise God when we focus on these things.
When tragedies or struggles try to derail us from our joy, we can still turn to praise. You’d be surprised how hard it is to keep wallowing in worry and doubt when you’re caught up in praising God. What are some of your favorite ways to praise? I love digging out all my praise music and sitting at my piano. I can get lost for hours playing and singing. It’s just me and God.
The last part of this memory verse calls out proof of God’s faithfulness. God always follows through on his plans. Think of some of the examples in the Bible where we see God’s faithfulness? The biggest one for me is the promised Messiah. Jesus came to rescue a world lost in sin. We are still lost, but know we have Jesus just like God planned. For that, our praise should be never-ending.
Let’s pray. Father God, you are always faithful and true. Your word brings peace and reminds me to have a heart of thanksgiving no matter what. I want to praise you in my raising and in my laying down. Help me to set aside the troubles of the world that try to distract me and bring me down. May I focus instead on your loving kindness, faithfulness, and mercy. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
