Have you ever wondered why God needs us to praise Him? Is He in need of our praise? Does He have low self-esteem? Is He an egotist?
God is all-sufficient and lacks nothing, so there has to be some other reason that God desires praise. Could it be that it is for our own benefit?
Sometimes when a ball player is flagged for a penalty, the coach or the player will run to the referee and start yelling, even though they know the call is not going to be reversed. Why do they do this?
The player and coach are frustrated and need to express it. In order to fully express it, they need to yell at the ref.
Conversely, the God of the Bible wants our praise. In order for us to praise God we have to lift our voice from our very inner being. The heart needs a means of expression!
C. S. Lewis in his legendary Reflections on the Psalms, comments on this when he writes:
The most obvious fact about praise — whether of God or any thing — strangely escaped me. I thought of it in terms of compliment, approval, or the giving of honor. I had never noticed that all enjoyment spontaneously overflow into praise unless (sometimes even if) shyness or the fear of boring others is deliberately brought into check.
I had not noticed either that just as men spontaneously praise whatever they value, so they spontaneously urge us to join them in praising it: “Isn’t she lovely? Wasn’t it glorious? Don’t you think that’s magnificent?” The Psalmist in telling everyone to praise God are doing what all men do when they speak of what they care about.
I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment . . . It is not out of compliment that lovers keep on telling one another how beautiful they are; the delight is incomplete till it is expressed.
John Piper adds by saying,
“We praise what we enjoy because the delight is incomplete until it is expressed in praise. If we were not allowed to speak of what we value and celebrate what we love and praise what we admire, our joy would not be full. God wants our praise not because he won’t be truly God until he gets it, but because we won’t be fully glad until we give it.”
God seeks the fullness of our joy which can only be found in knowing and praising Him as our Lord, God and Savior! He dwells in the praises of His people and where His Presence is there is fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore.
There is something built-in to each of us that cries out to worship. Man has created many idols to worship, but always walks away unsatisfied. Only when we spend time alone with our Creator acknowledging Him as our savior, God, protector, provider and deliverer, will we experience complete satisfaction after we offer up our praise out of a heart of thankfulness!
Oh for the days when the church would forget their scheduled agenda, and spend a couple of hours or more in just praying, praising, singing, worshiping their God, while they allowed His Holy Spirit to wash their souls clean and give them new strength for the journey.
God doesn’t need our praise, but He knows our soul needs to praise Him!
The next time you tell your spouse or children that you love them and that you appreciate them; realize that you are praising them. Yes, they enjoy hearing the words of praise, but you enjoy it more by being the one who does the praising!