Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every
spiritual blessing in Christ. (Ephesians 1:3)
Why
do you praise God? He’s God. He’s so different from us, and so superior to us
that our praising Him would be parallel to one one of the skin cells of a dust
mite praising you. It might make sense to thank Him for what He does – and that
is what Paul will lead us into in a moment but why do we praise Him? What does
it even mean to praise someone? According to the folks at Oxford, praise is the
expression of approval or admiration for someone or something; the expression
of respect or gratitude.” So the folks at Oxford don’t make the differentiation
that I do.
Their
definition doesn’t solve the problem. Why should we praise God? Let me ask it
another way – what does it matter to God if we do or don’t praise Him? What
does it matter whether we praise God or not? God is God. He’s omniscient,
omnipotent, and omnipresent. He doesn’t need our praise. If praise isn’t for
God, it seems logical that it must be for us. Some may immediate stress the
notion that our praising God involves our humiliating ourselves or otherwise debasing ourselves. They maintain that we need
to praise ourselves in order to bolster our self-esteem.
Studies
show, however, that gratitude promotes relationships, improves physical and
psychological health, enhances empathy, reduces aggressiveness, helps people sleep
better, improves self-esteem and increases mental strength. (https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/what-mentally-strong-people-dont-do/201504/7-scientifically-proven-benefits-gratitude)
People
who praise God know this already: praising God is good for us. Beyond all the
things mentioned above, one benefit of praising God (in music) is that it
produces endorphins, and perhaps the biggest benefit of praising God is dealing
with the universe as it is. When we praise God, we’re reducing our stress because
we’re not pretending to be what we are not (i.e., God.)
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