And His Praise Goes On

As he was drawing near - already on the way down the Mount of Olives - the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, saying, 
"Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! 

Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!" 

And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, rebuke your disciples."

He answered, "I tell you, if these were silent,

the very stones would cry out.

- Luke 19:37-40 (ESV)

Do you ever pause just to think how awesome God is?

If you don't, then you should - so stop and read Psalm 104 right now. Maybe that'll change your mind.

If you do, then great! But stop and read Psalm 104 right now anyway.

(Don't be lazy. If you don't have a Bible nearby, then type it into Google, or go to biblegateway.com)

Psalm 104 is one of my favorite psalms. I love reading it because it highlights so many things that God does that we take for granted - the springs gushing forth in the valleys (v.10), the grass growing for the livestock and plants (v.14), teaching the sun when to set (v.19)...He thought of it all! And, unlike the Deistic, clockmaker image of God, in which the Creator winds up the world like a giant machine and then lets it go, our God is active even in the seemingly insignificant.

The point is, the Lord deserves our praise. But here's the deal - he deserves our praise for who He is, not for what He does.

This is an important distinction - it is easy for us to praise Him when things are going well, but it's also easy for us to question Him when things aren't going so well. Questioning Him is okay - but we should praise Him nonetheless.

Even when Job loses everything, he says:

"The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD." (Job 1:21, ESV)

In Luke, Jesus tells the Pharisees that if his disciples don't praise him, then the rocks will cry out in worship. All of God's creation was made with the purpose of praising, adoring, worshiping, exulting in and exalting His name.

Chris Rice's song "And Your Praise Goes On" gives us a perfect example of this:

The moon is high and the sunset fades
The lullabies have all been sung
We're tucking in another day
And stars appear now one by one
But the stillness moves and the silence yields
And not a single beat is lost
You can hear the chorus in the fields
Taking up where we left off

And Your praise goes on, rising to Your throne
Where You guard us while we dream
Past the stars they fly, Your praises fill the sky
Till You wake us with the dawn
And Your praise goes on

Now bring your warmth, O morning sun
Chase the stars and the moon away
And wake us with your brightest song
And add our voice to your refrain
Now rise up, everything that lives!
Flap your wings and leap for joy!
O forest, lift your arms and sway!
Clap your hands, you ocean waves!

And Your praise goes on, rising to Your throne
Where You bless our toil and play
Through the clouds they rise, Your praises fill the skies
Till the setting of the sun
And Your praise goes on

And when my final breath You lend
I'll thank You for the life You gave
But that won't mean the praises end
Cause I won't be silenced by the grave!

And Your praise goes on
I'll be running to Your throne
With every nation, tribe and tongue
To Your arms I'll fly
I'll gaze into Your eyes
Then I'll know as I am known
And Your praise goes on
And Your praise goes on
And Your praise goes on

All of creation is crying out to praise Him. Join in the chorus.