Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
What does it mean to praise the Lord, and why does the Bible talk endlessly about praising Him? For example, Psalm 150: "Praise Him according to His excellent greatness" (cf. vss. 1-6; and numerous other psalms).
What does our praise do for Him? It cannot be that He exists on the endless flattery of unnumbered sycophants; He is not vain! Psalm 22:3 says, "You are holy, enthronedupon the praises of Israel" (Hebrew).
Are we enjoined to praise Him endlessly because of His mighty power as Creator and Sustainer of the universe, the Author of life? Islam says, yes; prostrate yourself before Allah five times a day. Be physically reminded externally to do so. But the Bible goes further.
The LORD of the Bible, the God of Israel and also "the Lord of all the earth" (Zech. 6:5), is indeed the Almighty who holds the nations as dust in His hands and they are counted as "less than nothing" (Isa. 40:15-17); but is that the reason why we praise Him so much?
No, there is a far greater reason that Islam does not discern--yet. It fuels the multitudinous calls in the Bible to "praise ye the Lord."
The LORD of the Bible is the One whose love motivated Him, drove Him to "taste" the second death of this lost world. He "tasted death" for every one of its doomed inhabitants (Heb. 2:9). It was eternal death that He tasted, hell itself. That's the measure of His love.
Understand that breadth and length and depth and height of His love (cf. Eph. 3:18, 19), and you too can never stop singing His praise. But that reason is way beyond Islam at the present time to grasp.
--Robert J. Wieland
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: November 30, 2007.
Copyright © 2012 by "Dial Daily Bread."
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