Why Do I Praise Him?

If I asked you right now 'why do you praise the Lord?' what would you say? Think about it for a minute, but take the time to answer the question: why do you praise the Lord? If you are like most people you would probably say 'because of all He has done for me' or 'because of His many blessings' and those are great reasons to praise the Lord. But I think our praise has to go even further than just praising Him for what He can do or has done for us. We need to praise the Lord for who He is. 


Sometimes even in our praise we can become very self centred. It's not that we aren't thankful for who He is or that we feel He doesn't deserve the highest form of praise, but we tend to think about things, including praise, in the light of how it affects us. What did I get out of this relationship? What has the Lord done for me recently? Well, let me ask you another question: if the Lord didn't bring blessings into your life, would you still praise Him? If you were going through a valley instead of a mountaintop experience, would you still praise Him?


We need to praise Him with a pure heart, pure intentions. We need to let the focus be on Him and only Him, not what He can do, but who He is. He is the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End. He is the Creator of all things. He is the Lily of the Valley, the Morning Star, the Rose of Sharon, He is Lord. He is a Fortress, the Rock. He is I Am. 


There are many reasons to praise the Lord and yes we should praise Him for everything He does for us. He saves us, He comforts us, He provides for us, He heals us, He delivers us, He sustains us, He blesses us and on and on. But first of all we need to praise Him for just who He is: He is God and He is worthy of our praise. David sings a song of praise to the Lord in 2 Samuel 22 and from it we get the chorus: 


'I Will Call Upon the Lord'.


 I will call upon the Lord
Who is worthy to be praised
So shall I be saved from my enemies

(Men sing lead, women echo)
I will call upon the Lord (I will call upon the Lord)
Who is worthy to be praised (Who is worthy to be praised )
So shall I be saved from my enemies (So shall I be saved from my enemies )

(All sing together)
The Lord liveth, and blessed be the Rock
And let the God of my salvation be exalted
The Lord liveth, and blessed be the Rock
And let the God of my salvation be exalted

So I ask you once more: Why do you praise the Lord? 

1 Chronicles 16:25
For great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised