Why Does God Want Us to Praise & Worship Him?

Why Does God Want Us to Praise & Worship Him?

Scripture is full of examples of praise and worship toward our Father and creator. We also have explicit instruction that we should offer praise and worship toward God. Praise and worship is an important feature of our walk with God.

Have you ever wondered why that is so?

To someone who did not grow up in any kind of faith tradition … biblical or otherwise, this constant praising could come across as rather odd. Why does this God of yours require so much praise?

• Does God suffer from low self esteem?
• Does He need a daily dose of praise to get going in the morning?

Many pre-biblical and non-biblical religions believed that their gods needed their sacrifice and praise. Sacrifice and praise were often part of a quid pro quo relationship they had with their gods. I praise you… sacrifice to you… and you use your supernatural influence to help me, protect me etc.


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This is Not the Nature of Godly Praise & Worship

The God of Abraham, the God who has revealed Himself to us through the scriptures and through Jesus Christ has made of point of telling us this is not the nature of His relationship with us.

Psalm 50:7-13 I don’t need you to take care of My needs… you need me

Verse 14 offer your thanksgiving [praise, thanks, confession], perform the acts you promised me you would do [obey my laws], look to me in faith to protect and care for you. This is how you honor Me.

Verse 16-23 praise and thanks open up the mind to the salvation that God is holding out to you… that He wants to give you. What is that salvation? To be saved from death and given the gift of eternal life.

That's an interesting equation. What might the role of praise be in that process?

Praise is not for God’s benefit but for our benefit.

Psalm 147:1 praise toward God is good and beautiful.

Praise itself is neutral. We can offer our praise to what is bad as easily as we can what is good. Look around you and you will see that praise is routinely heaped upon people who practice moral perversion, or reach the heights of power and material wealth through deceit.

But praise offered toward God is:

• for His righteous acts in our own lives, and in human history
• for His attributes of mercy, compassion, justice
• For His teaching of a way of life that leads to joy, contentment, and love

Psalm 147:2-14

Praise & Worship

Praise is more than saying “I praise you”… or “Praise God”

If you want to praise your child, your mate, your co-worker, you don’t come up to them and say “I praise you”… you say something like “I think you did a really good job at this project" or "I appreciate your loyalty and discretion". Praise is what we say as approval of the actions or character of something or someone that we think is important or good.

Descriptions and Context Make Praise Meaningful

We often use a blanket phrases like “you’re awesome”. If I walk up to you after services and say “you’re awesome” it doesn’t mean very much. It's kind of empty. However, if I say it in response to something you do or tell me that you have done… then my praise means something because it’s a comment on your actions.

We can say “God is awesome”. But unless the person you are saying that to has a good knowledge of scripture and biblical history it doesn’t mean much. It becomes more meaningful when we break it down and add some specifics.

When we praise God we are saying that His character traits and what He does are important to us. Praise means that we consider His thoughts and deeds truly special and worthy… worthy of telling others about [publically approving of etc]… and worthy of using as a pattern for life.

The benefit to us of our praise toward God is a positive focus and impetus toward thinking and doing what is good… doing those same things that we praise and esteem.

Worthiness & Worship

Worth/worthy/worthiness is the idea behind the English word “worship”. To add the suffix “ship” indicates a state, condition, act [friendship, horsemanship, statesmanship]. Worship is a contraction of worth-ship. To worship is to acknowledge that which is worthy.

Note: The Hebrew and Greek words translated worship mean to “bow down before”. You can bow down to an idol, a false god, or God the creator. The direction you point your praise and your worship indicates what you consider to be superior, good, desirable, worth modeling your life after.

Through our praise toward the God of scripture we proclaim that we consider His step-by-step program for salvation the ideal pattern for life. Through praise and worship toward Him we hold up His character and qualities as greater and better than our own… Qualities and character to be desired, learned, lived.

Through praise we set the mind of God as our goal and our purpose… to become like Him.

Psalm 145: 1-21

I Peter 2:9

We have been instructed to praise God not to make him feel special but for our own benefit. Our praise and worship helps us meditate upon, to proclaim, and hold in high esteem the things of God our creator.

Why Does God Want Us to Praise & Worship Him?