Ways to Praise

We continue our study on worship

Then Jehoshaphat bowed with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell down before the Lord to worship Him. Then the Levites from the sons of the Kohathites and the Korahites stood up to praise the Lord God of Israel shouting with a loud voice. (2 Chronicles 20:18-19)

Did you notice that all of Judah and Jerusalem fell down before the Lord to worship Him? This would be equivalent to seeing all of Baltimore and Washington D.C. worshipping God at the same time. Wow! They recognized that worship was not just something for the less educated or the less cultured. Praise is a natural response to God’s power and grace.

God’s people have always praised Him in one manner or another. The Bible depicts close to 500 times of praise as well as a glimpse into Heaven where praise is something that continues for all of eternity. Praise is prevalent.

While God desires praise from His people, He expects it from the rest of His creation. A few months back I showed our church a video where the sounds from the stars and the whales and the dolphins were combined to create music that fit perfectly with the song “How Great Is Our God”? The Bible tells us that creation points to God. Jesus said that if we fail to praise Him, that the rocks and trees will call out praises to Him. Praise is inevitable.

Last week we learned that worship to God should include everything we do. You may not even always be aware of your worship. You might just be living out your daily life doing what you normally do, but your actions are giving worship to God in what you say and do. You don’t consider them worship because they flow naturally from your heart and mouth, but they are worship nonetheless.

We also learned that praise is just one part of worship. The Hebrew word for praise is hallal, which means to praise, celebrate, glory, sing, boast, and even to rave about. It is the root word for Hallelujah, which means “let us praise God”. Praise acknowledges God for who He is. Praise is vertical worship from us to God. It is impossible to praise God without being aware you are doing so. While worship is a natural response to God’s power and grace, praise is a deliberate action that is directed to God. 

Just because praise requires an intentionality does not mean that it is always true praise. In fact, we often speak words of praise with no real feeling behind it. We call it lip service. We are just saying what we think others want to hear. Praise requires that we compelled to approach God in humility, recognizing that He is worthy of our praise. We were made to praise Him. True praise emerges from a worshipful and passionate heart.

You could be worshipping God in public and people around you may have no idea, but when you are compelled to praise God, they will notice you. Why? Because it is not natural to sing and shout and carry on for someone that they cannot see. Before you accepted Jesus, do you ever watch a video of people praising God and thought, “That is weird! What are they doing?” Praise by its very nature is outward, demonstrative, and obvious to anyone watching.

Praise is not something that is supposed to be confined to a worship service. Praise takes place anytime and anywhere as a direct result of our relationship with a holy God. When we see God for who He is, regardless of where we are and who we are with, we are compelled to praise Him. We are going to look at the different expressions of praise seen in the Bible.

Visible Praise

In our passage in 2 Chronicles, the word used to describe their response to God was shachaw, which is a word for worship that means to bow down. When the wise men visited Jesus as a child they worshipped Him visibly.

Entering the house, they saw the child with Mary His mother, and falling to their knees, they worshiped Him. (Matthew 2:11)

The Greek word used here for worship was proskuneo, which basically means to kneel. Another visible way to praise is by dancing.

Let them praise His name with dancing. (Psalm 149:3a)

This refers to dancing for God, not just dancing because you like the beat. Praise is always deliberate, not a natural response to rhythm. “A genuine, joyful dancing before God and for God is absolutely biblical.” (Dwayne Moore)

Another visible form of praise is raising our hands. The Hebrew word yadah, means to worship with extended hands. It is often translated in the Bible as give thanks. Yadah is the word that was used in our 2 Chronicles passage when Jehoshaphat told the singers to go out in front of the army and “Give thanks to the Lord.” Imagine hundreds of people marching in front of an army with their hands stretched toward the sky as they praised God.

Vocal Praise

There are three vocal forms of praise: singing, shouting, and speaking. None of these are seen as more important than any other, yet our churches for centuries have focused almost entirely on singing and speaking. The amount of each varies, but typically in any given church you will sing for about 15-20 minutes and then there is about 10-15 minutes of talking through prayers, scripture reading, testimonies, etc.

What most of our churches fail to do is understand the importance of shouting as a form of praise. Throughout the Bible shouting was used to show joy, alarm, and as a battle-cry. Imagine a worship service where everyone gave a loud shout of joy when someone accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Why shouldn’t that excite us. That person was just saved from an eternity of torment and despair. God was victorious in their life. That should make us want to shout. Or what if we ended our services with a loud battle-cry to indicate that we have prepared ourselves for the spiritual battle ahead of us.

Why is it seen as acceptable for soldiers to shout in order to psych themselves up before a battle or football players to yell so they can prepare themselves for a game, but Christians are supposed to sit quietly and reverently in church? We shout about other things in our lives, but for some reason we think God cannot handle that level of excitement from us. But God told us to shout.

Shout to the Lord, all the earth;
be jubilant, shout for joy, and sing. (Psalm 98:4)

Audible Praise

The last form of praise is audible praise. This is different than vocal praise in that it includes sounds we make to praise God. Psalm 150 tells us to praise God with trumpets, flute, cymbals, drums, stringed instruments, and more. Playing music is a major way we can praise God. The Bible does not restrict the use of instruments to just these. The idea here was that anything can be used to make a joyful sound for the Lord.

So far you may think to yourself, “I can’t sing or don’t like singing in front of others, I don’t play an instrument, I don’t like to shout, I wouldn’t be caught dead dancing in front of people, I am uncomfortable lifting my hands up during worship, if I knelt down or bowed down I would never be able to get up again, and I don’t want to read or pray in front of others. So where does that leave me?”

I doubt any of you here fit that completely, but there is still one last expression of praise that I want to describe: clapping. There are numerous times throughout the Bible that we see clapping as an expression of praise.

O, Clap your hands, all you people, shout unto God with a voice of triumph. (Psalm 47:1)

In fact, the Bible even says that the trees of the field will clap their hands and to let the rivers clap their hands. Clapping is used to show appreciation and for encouragement. In non-church settings we will see people clap their hands just because someone walks up on stage. People will clap their hands when you hit a baseball. If you miss the baseball, they will clap their hands and say, “Good swing.” Those who have experienced the love of God should be able to appreciate what He has done for them and should want to encourage others as well.

Think about it. Jesus Christ gave His life so that you can be forgiven of your sins. I think He deserves our applause for that. You came to church today when you could have stayed in bed or gone somewhere else. I think you should be encouraged for that.

So many ways to praise God: visible, vocal, and audible. We should be compelled to praise God. Praise is deliberate. Praise is vertical. Praise is also contagious. When you praise Him, others will marvel at Him. When you elevate Him, others will see Him. When you proclaim Him, others will hear about Him. When you share Him, others will see Him.

Just because praise seems strange or uncomfortable to you, is not a reason not to at least try some expression of praise to God. 

Therefore, through Him let us continually offer up to God a sacrifice of praise (Hebrews 13:15a)

Praise is a sacrifice. That means that it requires some effort on your part. This week I challenge you to move out of your comfort zone and try to praise God in a whole new way. Pick one of these expressions and praise and practice doing that throughout the week as a means of praising God. Then next Sunday come prepared to share your expression of praise as part of our time together worshipping God.