Psalm 107:1-2 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
    his love endures forever.
Let the redeemed of the Lord tell their story—
    those he redeemed from the hand of the foe.

This says, very simply, “If God has blessed you, say so!” There are many reasons to praise God, but none of them are “because He needs it.” God is entirely self-sufficient, but we are quite the opposite, and failure to acknowledge that puts us in very dangerous territory. After all, what made Satan the devil was his desire to take God’s glory for himself, and the temptation to Adam and Eve was “to be like God.” Even the ancient Greeks, who didn’t have the Bible at all, recognized that hubris was exceedingly dangerous. Honest praise to God is perhaps the best antidote for that. When we recognize how wonderful He is, our own limitations become clear to us, and we rejoice in His grace that He chooses to redeem us, as it says here, and even use us in His plans for His glory. Praising God is a privilege and a joy that those who don’t acknowledge Him obviously don’t have. Actually, every human being alive has been blessed by God, or they wouldn’t exist. The more we recognize and acknowledge His blessings, the more they pour through us! Praise for God is a natural expression of gratitude, and as now countless psychologists have recognized, gratitude is the key to happiness. Dennis Prager even says it is the key to goodness in people, and I think he has a real point. You can’t find a really good person who isn’t grateful, and I think the reverse is true as well. Praising God gives us the foundation for all of that, and it is a wonderful privilege.

Growing up we sang lots of hymns that praised God in various ways, including the famous Doxology, but when I was introduced to the Charismatic Movement in 1973 I entered into a whole new dimension of praise and worship. I love it! Since then, the Lord has allowed me to translate many songs between English and Japanese, and even write a few myself. It’s not unusual for every song we sing in a worship service here to be one I have translated in one direction or the other, and we sing about seven songs each time! Sometimes I am moved to tears in singing them, that God would have poured His Spirit and His words through me so beautifully. All I can do is praise Him! Knowing the blessing of praising God, I desire for everyone to have that blessing, so I seek to obey this passage, telling people how incredibly good and gracious God is, so that they too may open their hearts to Him, for their salvation and His glory.

Father, thank You again for the privilege of praising You. May I do it more and more accurately and effectively, drawing others to praise You as well, for their blessing and Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!