God and Our Praise

– by Joshua Fox –

 

The Bible is full of passages of people declaring the praise of God. In fact, one of many people’s favorite books in the Bible, the book of Psalms, is the number one book that scatters praise throughout a majority of its chapters. As I thought about this action of praise that Christians are encouraged to practice and are commanded by God to do, the thought came to mind, “Does God need our praise?” This question requires us to consider the character of God and the implication the answer to this question brings to our lives.

 

Many of God’s primary attributes, those attributes that are true of God alone and non-transferable to any of His beings, seem to answer “No” to the question above. For example, think about God’s self-sufficiency. God is the One who has life in Himself (John 5:26), who is not “served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all life and breath and all things” (Acts 17:25). Even though the question posed at the beginning suggests a need, this attribute of God says that God has all He needs within Himself.

 

What about the Trinity relationship of God (God being one in essence, but three in Person—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit)? Since the beginning of time before Creation, God in His Trinitarian nature has always existed in perfect holy love.  This relationship between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit brought utmost joy to the Godhead as they lived in unconditional, self-giving love to the other. If God truly needed the praise of His creation, how could that joy be complete?

 

One more example of this is the transcendence of God. He is the wholly “Other,” exalted far above the universe. We are finite creatures; He is the infinite Creator. Why would He need praise from us, such lowly rational beings? This seems to picture God as someone starving for attention or a compliment, which contradicts other aspects of His character.

 

Seeing that the answer to our question is a resounding “No!” in consideration of God’s character, let us flip the tables of our thinking, now. Instead of asking, “Does God need our praise?” let us ask the question, “Does God want our praise?” This answer is a resounding “Yes!” as we see it evidenced throughout both Old and New Testaments. The call is to all: “Through [Christ], let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name” (Hebrews 13:15). What is the implication then to this answer?

 

While it is true that God has no needs, we have need for Him. He created all of us out of the fullness of His love in His divine image to have a personal love relationship with Him. It is in this relationship with God that we find the consummation of our deepest joy and satisfaction. We will find the natural result flowing from a growing relationship with God to be none other than praise. “My soul is satisfied as with marrow and fatness,” David declared, “and my mouth offers praises with joyful lips” (Psalm 63:5 emphasis added). Praise says to God, “I enjoy You! I find fulfillment in You!” So, we see that praise is essentially a response to God’s revelation of Himself to us. God wants our praise because, by it, we show Him to be glorious and worth pursuing.

 

There is a dilemma here, though, because God made us free creatures with the ability to choose between good or evil. Sadly, there are those who choose the evil, who love the darkness rather than the light. Maybe, they see God in the light of someone who is vain and wants others to brag on His likable characteristics. Maybe they see a God who bombards them as one who needs praise rather than wants praise. They are not aware of the precious gift that is laid before them in Jesus Christ. If they knew God like the true Christian knew God, they would come to the right place of praise in their life.

 

Think about the love that God has for us! Here is the infinite, transcendent God who humbly comes and reveals Himself to us, so that we can find the greatest pursuit of a lifetime and let the worthiest Person of all live through us! Does God need our praise? No, but He wants it because He knows it is the result of what we need most in our lives: Him. Once we have truly tasted of His goodness, we will never be hungry for anything or anyone else more than Him. (Psalm 34:8, John 6:35). Oh, to experience life as a child of God – filling everyday experiences, from the mundane to the magnificent, with praise of God who is both incomprehensible and present in our lives! Angels are already praising God in the heavens (Isaiah 6:2-3, Revelation 5:11-14). Why not begin living in that spiritual posture right now? He certainly is worthy of all our praise!