Happiness and Praise
I've been thinking about praise lately. When I first became a Christian, I though it was strange how God was all-loving, yet demanded praise. Were we supposed to be concerned with loving "the other" while He was content to love and praise Himself? Then a friend pointed out that He had no one higher than Himself to praise. That made sence to me and I dropped the issue.
Praise is a funny thing. Why do we praise God? I think the answer lies in the fact that more than anything else, we desire to be happy. Our own Declaration of Independence stipulates "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" as everyone's right. The "pursuit of happiness" is a strange thing to put into a legal document. I think its true, though, that happiness is what drives us onward. Blaise Pascal puts it this way:
"All men seek happiness. This is without exception. Whatever different means they employ, they all tend to this end. The cause of some going to war, and of others avoiding it, is the same desire in both, attended with different views. The will never takes the least step but to this object. This is the motive of every action of every man, even of those who hang themselves."
We do the things we do because we think they will make us happy. So how does this translate into the topic of praise? I think that God created us to desire happiness, while at the same time He desires our praise. But when you think about it, happiness spontaneously overflows into praise. CS. Lewis, in his book Reflections on Psalms said it this way:
"I had never noticed that all enjoyment spontaneously overflows into praise unless (sometimes even if) shyness or the fear of boring others is deliberately brought in to check it. The world rings with praise – lovers praising their mistresses, readers their favourite poet, walkers praising the countryside, players praising their favourite game – praise of weather, wines, dishes, actors, motors, horses, colleges, countries, historical personages, children, flowers, mountains, rare stamps, rare beetles, even sometimes politicians or scholars. I had not noticed how the humblest, and at the same time most balanced and capacious minds, praise most, while the cranks, misfits and malcontents praise least. I had not noticed either that just as men spontaneously praise whatever they value, so they spontaneously urge us to join them in praising it: ‘Isn’t she lovely? Wasn’t it glorious? Don’t you think that magnificent?’ The psalmists in telling everyone to praise God are doing what all men do when they speak of what they care about."
Praising something completes it. Not praising God would be like watching the Packers make the final touchdown to cream the Vikings, them just sitting there quietly. That would be wrong! You need to get up and scream and jump arround! God gave us the desire to be happy, and longs to fill that desire with good things. He longs to bless us. This allows us to see His goodness and trust Him, and give Him the praise that He longs for and so much deserves. It really is an awesome turn of events.
Most of these thoughts were taken from a sermon of Pastor Steve's, which has stuck with me.
Praise is a funny thing. Why do we praise God? I think the answer lies in the fact that more than anything else, we desire to be happy. Our own Declaration of Independence stipulates "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" as everyone's right. The "pursuit of happiness" is a strange thing to put into a legal document. I think its true, though, that happiness is what drives us onward. Blaise Pascal puts it this way:
"All men seek happiness. This is without exception. Whatever different means they employ, they all tend to this end. The cause of some going to war, and of others avoiding it, is the same desire in both, attended with different views. The will never takes the least step but to this object. This is the motive of every action of every man, even of those who hang themselves."
We do the things we do because we think they will make us happy. So how does this translate into the topic of praise? I think that God created us to desire happiness, while at the same time He desires our praise. But when you think about it, happiness spontaneously overflows into praise. CS. Lewis, in his book Reflections on Psalms said it this way:
"I had never noticed that all enjoyment spontaneously overflows into praise unless (sometimes even if) shyness or the fear of boring others is deliberately brought in to check it. The world rings with praise – lovers praising their mistresses, readers their favourite poet, walkers praising the countryside, players praising their favourite game – praise of weather, wines, dishes, actors, motors, horses, colleges, countries, historical personages, children, flowers, mountains, rare stamps, rare beetles, even sometimes politicians or scholars. I had not noticed how the humblest, and at the same time most balanced and capacious minds, praise most, while the cranks, misfits and malcontents praise least. I had not noticed either that just as men spontaneously praise whatever they value, so they spontaneously urge us to join them in praising it: ‘Isn’t she lovely? Wasn’t it glorious? Don’t you think that magnificent?’ The psalmists in telling everyone to praise God are doing what all men do when they speak of what they care about."
Praising something completes it. Not praising God would be like watching the Packers make the final touchdown to cream the Vikings, them just sitting there quietly. That would be wrong! You need to get up and scream and jump arround! God gave us the desire to be happy, and longs to fill that desire with good things. He longs to bless us. This allows us to see His goodness and trust Him, and give Him the praise that He longs for and so much deserves. It really is an awesome turn of events.
Most of these thoughts were taken from a sermon of Pastor Steve's, which has stuck with me.
posted by Laura Ibsen @ 12:00 PM
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