More Word to the World

Before we move on to the next topic, let us review some of the ideas about worship that we have discussed. Worship is more than a passive attitude or expression, it is a subjective experience involving body, soul, and spirit. Worship involves more than just the human element, it is an encounter of humanity and deity. Worship is more than a monologue to God, it is a dialogue with God.

We enter worship after we have passed the gate of thanksgiving and the courts of praise. It is entering the throne room of God. It is not simply light-hearted jubilation, but is an experience of reverent adoration, humble obeisance, and holy honor. Worship brings us closer to an understanding of God’s holiness.

Let us look at some comparisons between thanksgiving, praise and worship.

Thanksgiving is at the gate; praise is in the court; worship is in the throne room.

Thanksgiving is acknowledging what God has done; praise is confessing who God is; worship is entering God’s presence.

Thanksgiving is acknowledging God’s goodness; praise is acknowledging God’s greatness; worship is acknowledging God’s holiness.

Thanksgiving is an attitude; praise is an expression; worship is an experience.

Thanksgiving is acknowledging God; praise is agreeing with God; worship is communion with God.

Thanksgiving is acquaintance with God;  praise is friendship with God; worship is fellowship with God.

Next time we will begin to consider the question, “Why worship?”

The last time we were speaking about offering praise when it is a sacrifice. As a good example, let us look at the prophet Habakkuk’s startling attitude toward praise. He tells how praise is an appropriate response even when faced with crop failure and cattle failure:

Habakkuk 3:17-18
17 Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls:
18 Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.

In other words, when your business fails, or when you get laid off, or otherwise your source of income dries up, that is an appropriate place to offer up praise to the Lord. Not because you feel good about that experience, but as an expression of the will to acknowledge that God is in control of your life.

“I will praise God even when I don’t feel it.”

“I will praise God when faced with personal failure.”

“I will praise God when finances fail.”

“I will praise God when relationships are sour.”

Praise can be offered regardless of our circumstances, even when it is not an emotional response. It is appropriate to offer praise even when it is nothing but a deliberate decision of our will.

Psalms 34:1 A Psalm of David, when he changed his behaviour before A-bim’-e-lech; who drove him away, and he departed. I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth.

Although we are not continually happy, we can continually praise.

Physical praise

Praise to the Lord is more than just a happy thought floating through our brain. Praise is not simply sitting quietly in meditation. Praise is also action and it takes the form of physical activities.

Such as lifting the hands:

Psalms 63:4 Thus will I bless thee while I live: I will lift up my hands in thy name.
Psalms 134:2 Lift up your hands in the sanctuary, and bless the LORD.

Leaping

Acts 3:8 And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God.

Dancing

Psalms 149:3 Let them praise his name in the dance: let them sing praises unto him with the timbrel and harp.
2 Samuel 6:14 And David danced before the LORD with all his might; and David was girded with a linen ephod.

Because our culture has its own definition of dancing, some get uncomfortable when an emphasis is placed on dancing in worship. The scripture is not speaking of a waltz, the Charleston, the rumba, the hustle, or hip hop. The best way to understand what is meant by this type of praise is to examine the Hebrew and Greek words that refer to this form of praise.

There are in fact 50 Hebrew and 26 Greek words that refer to praise.[1] Here are a few that pertain to dance:

a.                 Yadah (H)   worship with extended hands

b.                 Ragad         (H)   dance, skip about

c.                  Pazaz (H)    leap

d.                 Allomai (G) leap

e.                  Skirtao (G) to leap with joy

Some other Hebrew and Greek words translated or describing praise can more completely be defined by these words:
boast, celebrate, shout, shout with joy, circle in joy, leap with joy, sing, proclaim, pluck strings, clap, extend hands, kneel, leap, bend the knee, fall to the ground.

This is certainly not a complete list of words that describe praise but these provide a picture of very expressive and happy forms of behavior that describe biblical praise.

If you are not already an exuberant worshiper, imagine yourself becoming one. These verses apply to you and me.

Musical praise

While on the subject of offering praise, we cannot overlook the topic of musical praise. Praise can also be offered with voice, percussion, and stringed and wind instruments. David and Solomon used full orchestras when offering praise to God. Skilled artistry on an instrument coupled with anointed praise to god make an amazing combination.

Psalms 33:2 Praise the LORD with harp: sing unto him with the psaltery and an instrument of ten strings.

Psalms 47:1 To the chief Musician, A Psalm for the sons of Ko’-rah. O clap your hands, all ye people; shout unto God with the voice of triumph.

Psalms 150:3-5
3 Praise him with the sound of the trumpet: praise him with the psaltery and harp.
4 Praise him with the timbrel and dance: praise him with stringed instruments and organs.
5 Praise him upon the loud cymbals: praise him upon the high sounding cymbals.
Exodus 15:20 And Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand; and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances.

2 Chronicles 5:13 It came even to pass, as the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the LORD; and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of musick, and praised the LORD, saying, For he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever: that then the house was filled with a cloud, even the house of the LORD;

By extension, we can include the electronic methods of creating these sounds as well.

Using instruments in worship accompanied the speaking of prophetic utterances.

1 Sam 10:5 After that thou shalt come to the hill of God, where is the garrison of the Philistines: and it shall come to pass, when thou art come thither to the city, that thou shalt meet a company of prophets coming down from the high place with a psaltery, and a tabret, and a pipe, and a harp, before them; and they shall prophesy:

This group of six musicians were more than just musicians. Their music was produced with an anointing so that it was said of them that they “prophesied with a harp.”

1 Chron 25:3 Of Jeduthun: the sons of Jeduthun; Gedaliah, and Zeri, and Jeshaiah, Hashabiah, and Mattithiah, six, under the hands of their father Jeduthun, who prophesied with a harp, to give thanks and to praise the Lord.

This verse may be understood in two ways. They spoke prophecies while playing their instruments or their playing the instrument was itself a form of prophecy.

These verses teach that musical instruments of all sorts may be included in times of praise, as long as they are placing the praise on the Lord and not the instrument player.

Praise

Praise and thanksgiving are closely linked. They both acknowledge what God has done, although praises moves a little closer to worship which involves acknowledging God for who He is. While thanksgiving is more of an attitude, praise is more than an attitude, it is an action. It is an expression of our heartfelt emotions arising out of the attitude or the heart of thanksgiving.

Praise involves verbal expression of the virtues and attributes of God. Praise involves hand clapping, raising the hands, leaping, playing a musical instrument, and dancing (to be discussed in greater depth in later lessons).

Because praise is an expression of emotion, it is not surprising that descriptions of praise in the Bible do not include still silence. Praise can be verbal, musical, and physical. As we read each of these verses, picture yourself becoming such a praiser as those described in the verses.

Verbal praise

Notice the use of audible vocal expressions found in these verses on praise:

Psalms 35:28 And my tongue shall speak of thy righteousness and of thy praise all the day long.

Psalms 89:1 I will sing of the mercies of the LORD for ever: with my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations.

Isaiah 12:6 Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion: for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee.

Hebrews 13:15 By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.

The praise we offer here on earth, even when it comes forth a sacrifice, is like a rehearsal for what we will be doing in heaven:

Revelation 19:1 And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God:

We must keep in good practice.

Ps 22:1-3
To the chief Musician upon Ai’-je-leth Sha’-har, A Psalm of David.
1 My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?
2 O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent.
3 But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.

As I read this Psalm written by King David this morning, I recalled the time that Jesus quoted these words in Aramaic, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani.” (Mark 15:34 and Matthew 27:46.) If you have felt forsaken, you are among the greats: King David felt and Jesus both experienced that. That is a common human experience. With King David, he faced constant military campaigns, insubordination of high officers, and family feuds to name a few.  Jesus faced the rejection of His nation, their religious leaders, His family, and even abandonment and betrayal of His closest friends.

Maybe you have faced that kind of abandonment in a troubled marriage, a friendship gone sour, or in a strained work situation. Whether it was caused by miscommunication and misunderstanding or outright rejection of who and what you are, it still hurts. Forsakenness hurts especially when our cries for help, day and night, seem to go unheard and unheeded.

But then there is verse three. If you are feeling forsaken, left behind, departed from, alone, abandoned, neglected, apostatized, ostracized, or cut loose, then there is verse three. “O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.” As a counterbalance to verses one and two, David stated the way back to fellowship: praise. When one offers praise to the Lord, the Lord comes and fills that praise with His presence. The Hebrew word that is translated “inhabitest,” ysahab, means to dwell, remain, sit, abide, stay, set, place, inhabit. Those words are opposites of the synonyms of forsaken. Do you want to beat back the feelings of forsakenness? Find a place where you can offer deep, heart-felt praise and worship to God. I have seen this work in my lie over and over again. After a great God-encounter I feel like I am floating along in heavenly places.

Praise works because God shows up.

May I interrupt the lesson to announce that I have uploaded a revised Prayer Guide to the resources tab. Please check it out and download the update.

Include this praise at the end of your daily prayer:

This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it. (Ps 118:24)

That is an excellent way to start your day. It is an attitude setter. It shifts our focus from worry toward an expectation of following after the blessed day that God designed you to live. And while you are at it, praise Him for ALL His benefits:

Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: (Ps 103:1-2)

(7) Praise for what God has done:

We have reached the end of our part in the communication link we call prayer. We started with worship, and then followed with prayer for revival, direction, provision, forgiveness, protection, and we now conclude with praise.

For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen (Matt 6:13)

What is the difference between worship and praise? Worship is acknowledging who God is, praise acknowledged what God has done. We not conclude with praising God because all that we have asked for during our prayer has already done. We have prayed for the kingdom but it is His kingdom that is promised to grow. We have pray for powerful demonstrations of his provision, healing, protection, etc., yet it is His power that has been promised and demonstrated over and over. We want to see demonstrations of glory but it is His glory we want and God wants to show His glory.

So it is appropriate to conclude our prayer by remembering that everything we have asked for, He is supplying daily—over and over again. So rejoice!