Praise and Thanksgiving

What is Praise?
Praise, as we all know, is speaking well of another. But praise in Scripture is more than this, it is giving important insights on the character of another, and thus, giving honor to that person. To praise someone is to show that they are worthy of praise—thus, they are people who are good or great in some way, and thus deserving of having other people how good they are. Giving praise to someone is kind of like having a newspaper article about how great that person is published. It means that they are important enough and good enough to tell others about.

Thanksgiving is a kind of praise. It is talking about how good one is through what they have done. To praise someone in this way, you could just recount their deeds in the past—like a biography of someone the writer appreciates. Or one could be more direct and simply thank the person for what they’ve done.

To praise is not the same as expressing personal feelings, although it might include that. To say to someone, “I love you,” is nice, but it doesn’t show that they are significant or good in any way. You could just as well be saying, “I love you, even though you are a jerk.” Personal feelings don’t actually communicate another’s worth. To offer praise, one needs to communicate the praise-worthy characteristics of the one being spoken of.

Praise Commanded
We are commanded in Scripture to praise God and to give him thanksgiving many, many times, especially in the Psalms. In the Law, the children of Israel are commanded to praise the Lord (Leviticus 19:24). We are also commanded to praise God in the New Testament (Romans 15:11; Ephesians 1:3-6; Hebrews 13:15; Revelation 19:5). But, by far, the most frequent place in the Bible that commands us to praise God is the Psalms (Psalm 30:4; 33:1; 66:2; 67:3; 149; 150 and many more). Praising God isn’t just a nice thing to do on occasion, it is something God wants us to do all the time.

Why Praise?
Come before Him with joyful singing. Know that the LORD Himself is God—it is He who has made us, and not we ourselves. We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. Enter His gates with thanksgiving And His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him, bless His name. For the LORD is good; His lovingkindness is everlasting And His faithfulness to all generations. Psalm 100:2-5
We need to remember that God is the King of the universe—the greatest King of all kings. We wish to pray to God and to gain his blessings. But in order to approach God, we must open the way with praise and thanksgiving. Praise is like the key to open the door to God’s court, so he will give you an audience. Is this because God is so full of himself that he wants to hear people saying good things about him? No. There are three reasons given as to why we should praise God:

a. We are saying we remember who he is
In praising God we are letting God know that we know who He is. We proclaim that he isn’t like humans, faithless and weak. Rather, in approaching God, we are communicating to God that we will respect him for who he really is, and not assume that we can treat him like we do our friends or others we have no respect for. It says in Hebrews that if we wish to please God, we must believe that he rewards those who seek him. Praising God just communicates what we believe about God, so he knows if he can accept us or not.

b. We are saying we remember what he has done for us
We are completely dependent on God, for he made us and keeps us alive. Without him we are nothing. And he has granted us every blessing. Thanking God recognizes what he has done for us, and acknowledges our dependence on Him. God wants us to recognize that so we will be equally dependent on him later. If we give praise and thanksgiving to God, we are able to do that.

c. We are giving him a good reputation
God is the ruler of all the earth, but not everyone recognizes that. Nor does everyone acknowledge God’s power. If we praise God, especially publicly, we are granting God a good reputation among those who do not believe in Him. God desires to rule over all of the people on earth, and he wants to have them acknowledge Him of their own free will. Perhaps it may not be much, but if we praise God, we are making his reputation good in the little bit we can, amongst those who hear us. Thus, we are helping God in gaining back what is rightfully His.

Examples of Praise
Psalm 103 is an especially good example of praise of God.
Bless the LORD, O my soul, And forget none of His benefits;
Who pardons all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases;
Who redeems your life from the pit, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion;
Who satisfies your years with good things, So that your youth is renewed like the eagle.
The LORD performs righteous deeds And judgments for all who are oppressed.
He made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the sons of Israel.
The LORD is compassionate and gracious, Slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness. (Psalm 103:2-8)

In this we can see description of God (compassionate, loving) and acknowledgement of what God does for us (pardons sin, heals, redeems) and also highlighting some things God has done to demonstrate who he is (performs righteous deeds, made his ways known to Moses).
Here’s another one, written by Francis of Assisi:
You are holy, Lord—You are the only God
And you deeds are wonderful
You are strong, You are great
You are the Most High, You are the Almighty.
You, Holy Father, are King of Heaven and Earth
You are good, Supreme good, Lord God, living and true.
You are love, You are wisdom, You are humility
You are endurance, You are rest, You are peace
Jesus gave public praise, as did Paul (Matthew 11:25; Acts 16:25). The priests of the Old Testament gave praise every morning and night (I Chronicles 23:30).

Do it yourself!
Now it’s your turn! We can praise God in many ways. We can read to him a psalm or praise (like Psalm 103 or Ephesians 1). Or we can create our own praise. The best way to do this is to make a list (Right now—this is an assignment!!) of things that God has done for you. Don’t stop until you could think of 15 to 20 items. Then, list out who it means God is. If God has delivered you from death, then he is a deliverer. If God has given you food, then He is a provider. Then you can use this list to praise God at other times. If your knowledge of God is based on your own experience, no one can take it away from you. And you can acknowledge who He is daily when you are speaking to Him.