Got Praise?

Let's talk about art this morning, the art of praising God.

In the Message, praising first shows its head in the 24th chaper of Genesis, but its first significant appearance is in the 29th chapter of that book of the Bible. Leah and Jacob had a fourth son and they named him Judah, which meant Praise-God. So the Lion of Judah, one Jesus of Nazareth, came from a tribe essentially named Praise-God. Seems about right, doesn't it?

Praising God is something one must do if one is to find peace in life, I expect. You can't go through life in a funk if you're praising, I reckon.

I love the way it's expressed in Deutoronomy in this translation: Reverently respect God, your God, serve him, hold tight to him, back up your promises with the authority of his name. He's your praise! He's your God! He did all these tremendous, these staggering things that you saw with your own eyes.

He's your praise. He's your morning, your noon, your evening. He brings breath and presents it as his own praise to you.

Perhaps my favorite praise expressing comes from Jesus himself as he rode into Jerusalem. Some of those sometimes dastardly Pharisees questioned all the hoopla as the King of Kings rode in. He, I imagine filled with joy and smiling broadly, said, "But he said, "If they kept quiet, the stones would do it for them, shouting praise."

What about it? Instead of "Got Milk?" let's produce some T-shirts that say, "Got Praise?" Takes the breath out of worrying about whether we're among the 99 or not.