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Worthy of Praise?


Great is the LORD, and most worthy of praise, in the city of our God, his holy mountain. It is beautiful in its loftiness, the joy of the whole earth. Like the utmost heights of Zaphon is Mount Zion, the city of the Great King. God is in her citadels; he has shown himself to be her fortress. (Psalm 48:1-3) 

          What does it mean to be "worthy" of praise? It's obvious: you have to be something or do something that impresses people and since we're talking about praise, that something has to be positive or it has to be justified. In today's passage, God is praised for doing two things: for being present, and for being a protector. Because of God's presence and His protection, His city was beautiful. It brought joy and blessings to others. What was there in the Old Testament is elsewhere in the New: "Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is sacred, and you are that temple." (I Corinthians 3:16-17)
          Some people consider the "you" in those verses to refer to each individual. You, personally, are God's temple.  As such, you and I should be careful about how we care for ourselves. We should keep ourselves pure, perfect and holy.  Everything we do physically, emotionally, intellectually, spiritually, volitionally and inter-relationally should praise God, which means it must follow His laws. 
         There is logic to this idea, but I'm going to suggest a couple other candidates for the position of "Temple." The letter to the Corinthian church was written to a group of people, "the Church at Corinth." The Church is the Temple, and we are part of that Church. That means that what the Church does must be treated as sacred, because God is in it. The third candidate I will suggest is that the family, as made up of pieces (individuals) of the Church which is the temple, also needs to live as a praise to God, meaning that families, too, need to follow the laws and patterns God established for them. 
          It goes without saying that individuals, families and even the Church will fail, and will need God's grace and ours. But if God is worthy of praise, then we should keep where He lives as beautiful, pure and holy as we can. That is far greater praise than what might come out of our mouths.

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