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Praise And Thanksgiving


I will praise God’s name in song and glorify him with thanksgiving. This will please the LORD more than an ox, more than a bull with its horns and hoofs. (Psalm 69:30-31) 

Somewhere along the line, I got the idea that praise is given for what someone is, while thanksgiving is given for what someone does.  That distinction probably isn’t really that clear, but it is useful because it demonstrates at least three important points. The first is critical: both praise and thanksgiving are connected to reality. They tell the truth. It acknowledges that something has happened; someone has been or done something. Even if we are thankful that something has not been done, not doing is a form of doing. Praise and thanksgiving are just us being honest.
The second truth it demonstrates is that there is a person behind the being and doing. It is not only appropriate to reward a person for what that person does, but also to reward that person for what sort of person that person is. That reward is a response to the reality of what the person did and what the person is.
         This is an area in which we tend to fail. Consider kids sports. Some people want to hand out awards to everyone so everyone feels included and important. Others want to hand out awards only to those who did something – sometimes only to those who did a big something – in the game. Both approaches try to do good, and neither does as much good as it should. The “everyone wins” approach approximates praise as thanksgiving. The “performance” approach approximates thanksgiving as praise, but the performance approach seems to me to be the more honest of the two because it is connected to reality of doing something while the other approach assumes that being in that situation is sufficient.
          What does this have to do with God or prayer? God is worthy of praise because He is, and He is what most of us aspire to be and more. God is deserving of thanksgiving because He does what most of us aspire to do and more and He does in relation to our real needs. Praise and thanksgiving are appropriate not only because we have benefitted as a direct result of His being and doing, but also because He is a person, as deserving of those responses as we are when we are or do to the benefit of others.

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