God Inhabits the Praises of His People
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The phrase “God inhabits the praise of His people” comes from the King James Version of Psalm 22:3, which states of God, “But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.” Other translations say, “Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One; you are the one Israel praises” (NIV). …
Psalm 22 is thought to have been written by King David. It is a cry of anguish and interestingly parallels much of what happens in Jesus’s crucifixion, though it was written 1,000 years before those events would occur. … Much of this psalm of lament involves David, sorely distressed and feeling rejected by the Lord, remembering past times of rescue and imploring God for help. You are holy, and yet you feel so far away, David is saying to God in essence. But our ancestors praised you and trusted you, and you delivered them, so I will do the same. …
In this reminder that God does indeed “inhabit the praise of His people,” David is thought to be reminding himself that he is to praise God in all circumstances, even when things seem hopeless.
The importance of praising God is mentioned hundreds of times in the Bible, both in the Old and New Testaments. Praising God means telling or otherwise expressing how wonderful and great we believe God is and how much we love Him. This can be done with words—such as through prayer, teaching, singing, or writing—or other modes of expression, such as dance, painting a picture, or simply opening your heart to Him in love during a moment of quiet stillness. It can mean heeding God’s commands and knowing He is Lord, as well as obeying His commandments and understanding we are to follow His Son, our Savior, Jesus.
Hebrews gives us one way to look at praise, noting we should “continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name” (Hebrews 13:15). … We are always to praise God in good times and bad. In his letter to the early church in Thessalonica, the apostle Paul reminds Christians to “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:16–18).
Scripture tells us God hears us always and is with us always. As Isaiah 65:24 says, “Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear.” … Because we know His presence is certain, we can know in our hearts that God is there: in good times and bad, always listening, always with us. In the words of Moses, “The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged” (Deuteronomy 31:8).
Psalm 22 reminds us of this truth. For even if God feels far away, He is not. He desires our praise and worship in all things. He is listening and very much present. So praise God in the sunshine and in the storm—He is there.—Jessica Brodie1
The joyful heart
As followers of Jesus, “grateful” should be our default setting when we consider that Jesus died to redeem us from an eternity of being separated from God. This should put a spring in our step and cause all the not-so-great stuff to bounce off as irrelevant. But I tend to succumb to less-than-grateful reactions, because, well, traffic, mess, stress, too little of this, too much of that. You know how it goes.
Still, I know that in the big picture, all the daily details matter very little, and I want to have joy in my heart. Let me share with you three areas that I have been concentrating on in order to be more positive in my reactions and outlook.
Be grateful for the smallest things: I’m learning to notice the smallest things that bring joy, and the list is endless: the sunrise, the sunset, a great cup of coffee, the cool morning air, the laughter of children, my husband’s strong arms, a good book, my pillow, and on and on the list goes. I’ve discovered that keeping a long string of small joys in mind can do wonders for absorbing the impact of some of the harder things life throws at me.
Don’t get attached to any particular outcome: This is a hard one! There are times when I’ve had very strong feelings about what I believe the outcome should be, but there were things at play that I couldn’t control. It’s often hard for me to say, “Either way I’ll be grateful,” because who wants to be grateful for a bad diagnosis or a rejected job application? But I’ve learned that my gratitude is not meant to be based on the outcome, but rather based on the fact that God is good. Always. Even when His goodness is beyond my comprehension.
Remember God’s goodness: For all my worrying, for all the tight spots, for all the difficult journeys, haven’t I come through okay? None of the hard things have altogether ruined me. I’ve never reached a place where God’s love couldn’t find me. Like Paul says: “Endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope” (Romans 5:4 NLT). When I pause to remember God’s goodness, my heart is flooded with that truth and my outlook can again become grateful.—Marie Alvero
The temple of praise
Heaven is a place where God is surrounded by praise, and it is described in the Bible as God’s temple (Psalm 11:4; Habakkuk 2:20). Yet the ultimate dwelling place for God is with His people: “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God” (Revelation 21:3; see also Revelation 21:22). Jesus Christ revealed that He is the Lord’s temple (John 2:19–21), and God’s presence now inhabits His body—the church (1 Corinthians 3:16–17).
Scripture repeatedly affirms that individual believers are “the temple of the living God” and “temples of the Holy Spirit” where God’s presence dwells (1 Corinthians 6:19; 2 Corinthians 6:16). The whole church “is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord … built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit,” explains the apostle Paul in Ephesians 2:21–22. …
God still inhabits the praises of His people. No matter what our circumstances, we know that God is holy and does all things right. We can worship the Lord even in our distress.—GotQuestions.org2
Living in worship
We feel God’s love most keenly when we are focused on His will and have devoted ourselves fully to His praise and purpose for our lives. We are instructed to abide in God, which means that we should live and move to worship His Name. The word “abide” carries with it a sense of habitation; we are commanded to live in the presence of God. …
God seeks to have His way in every area of our lives. He does not do this to directly control our actions as if we have no free will; but when we yield our will to His, He has the freedom to work in us in ways we could never imagine.
Our praise is a primary way that God works His way into our hearts and minds. When we worship, we are meant to turn all of our attention to God. In simple terms, worship is ascribing worth to God in some way. Today, most of us think of worship as music, and that is certainly one aspect of worship. However, it is much more than that.
True worship is lived out every minute of every day. Paul tells us in Romans that we should give up our bodies in a sacrificial way, and let our minds be constantly renewed by the Holy Spirit. He says that this is an acceptable act of worship (Romans 12:1–2). Far greater than any song we could sing, wholehearted worship is a life that praises God for His mercy and grace, and that seeks to show others what that grace and mercy has done in our lives.
God can minister to others in many ways, and will always deal directly with our hearts. However, as His ambassadors on earth, we are called to live out a life of praise so that others would see who we live for and glorify God in heaven. When we fully give ourselves to God’s purpose in our lives and give all the honor and praise to Him in our words and our actions, God’s might and power indwells itself in us and shines through to the rest of the world. The Holy Spirit lives in our hearts when we become believers, and His power is shown in our thoughts, actions, and interactions.
The most brilliant part of this is recognizing that God steps into our worship and magnifies Himself through it. … The presence of God will inhabit your heart and shine through in your worship.—ConnectUs3
Published on Anchor September 2024. Read by Gabriel Garcia Valdivieso. Music by John Listen.
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