|
Robins are hopping across the
lawn looking for worms,
woodpeckers are drilling holes
in trees to find insects, perky
finch are searching for thistle
seeds, cardinals are eyeing the
cracked corn and mourning doves
are waiting their turn at the
sunflower café. These are joined
by other birds doing what is
natural for them. In spite of
all their diverse appetites and
habits,
their voices blend and they sing
together.
“Let everything that has breath
Praise the Lord!”
(Psalm 150:6 NKJV). Birds have breath; they praise the Lord.
Psalm 148 has a list of who
should “Praise the Lord!”
--from heaven, in the heights
--all His angels, all His hosts
--stars of light, heaven of
heavens, waters above the
heavens
--great sea creatures
--fire and hail, snow and
clouds, storm winds
--mountains and hills, fruitful
trees, cedars
--creeping things, flying fowl
--kings, all people, princes,
judges
--young men, maidens, old men,
children
“Let them all praise the name of
the Lord.”
Then the last verse sums it up
by saying, “Praise the Lord!”
Admittedly, some of the things mentioned are inanimate objects,
but remember that Psalm 19:1 tells us, “The heavens declare the
glory of God…” Moses asked God to show him His “glory,” and
God caused all His goodness to
pass before Moses. It was a
panoramic view of God’s character—Grace, Compassion--that's
the “name of the Lord”--Who He
is.
(Exodus 33:18:19)
Why do birds sing? Is it because
they understand that not one
of them falls to the ground
unnoticed by the Heavenly
Father?
(Matthew 10:29). Do they comprehend that He cares and provides
for them? They don’t seem to
have that reasoning ability, so
why do
they sing? There are some
“scientific” answers such as
mating, territorial rights,
etc.; but there is another
answer that we can find
in the mentioned Psalms.
Christians should be the most
grateful people on earth. We’ve
been redeemed by a crucified Savior who died so that we could live.
We are living under a Divine covenant that reaches into eternity.
We are blessed while living in
this interim here on earth. We
should
sing praises to God. But that is
not why birds sing.
If we use the criteria for
praise to God based on what He
does for
us or how He blesses our lives,
it will be inconsistent. There
will be
days that we will feel like
praising God, and there will
other days
that we’ll have more questions
than praise.
So, why do birds sing? They sing
because of “Who God is,” not for
what He does for them. His
praise was built into them. He
so
ordered (commanded) their praise
when He included them in the
list of who should praise Him
(Psalm 148). “Let them praise
the
name of the Lord, For His name
alone is exalted; His glory is
above the earth and heaven”
(Psalm 148:13 NKJV). Yes, we
need
to be thankful people and not
fail to thank God for His many
benefits to us; but that is not why He wants our praise. This psalm
does not mention His blessings
as a basis for praise. The
reason
given follows the word “for”—“His name alone is exalted.” He
alone is worthy of our praise.
He knows WHO HE IS. He knows
He is worthy, and He knows as we
praise Him, we too will become
aware of WHO HE IS and see that
“He alone is exalted” and
worthy of our praise.
God does not have an ego that we
need to support, He is not
temperamental if we forget to
thank Him, nor can we bargain
with
Him to get what we want. He doesn’t need us to praise Him. We
do it because we need it. We are the beneficiaries of our praise to
God if we praise Him for the same reason birds sing—because He
said so! He said so to call our
attention to Who He is. When we
are aware of Who He is and
praise Him only for that reason
and
no other, that is pure worship.
Pure worship sends up a “sweet
smelling savor” to God, and He
will respond because we have the
right motive. Maybe that’s the
real difference between
thanksgiving and praise. We need
to be thankful
for our salvation and our
blessings, and then just praise
God -- in
worship -- for who He is and for
no other reason. “But You are
holy (that’s Who He is), Who
inhabit (reside) the praises of
Israel”
(Psalm 22:3NKJV).
In speaking to Moses in
Leviticus 19, God said, “I am
the Lord,”
at least a dozen times. It would
be hard to misunderstand that
message. The revelation of Who
God is solicits our praise. King
of kings! Lord of lords! Almighty God! Savior! Let His praises
resound around the world!
Be thankful for who you are in
Christ; give God a heart-felt
“Thank you” for the resultant blessings; but praise (worship)
Him for WHO HE IS and for no
other reason. At Jesus’
triumphant entrance to
Jerusalem, the multitude began
to praise God because
of Him—because of Who He was.
The Pharisees wanted Jesus
to rebuke them. He gave an
unusual reply, “I tell you that
if these
should keep silent, the stones
would immediately cry out”
(Luke 19:40 NKJV). That was worship! They were praising God because of who
Jesus was—The King! If they had
not,
the inanimate rocks would have
given God praise.
That’s why birds sing (Psalm
148:10). Their creator implanted
His
praise in them. Join in their
song; don’t let the rocks shout
out
the praise God wants you to give Him – just for WHO HE IS.
That’s why birds sing! Let all
the earth proclaim His praise.
Hallelujah! Hosanna to the
Worthy Lamb!
Delores Adams
Copyrighted. All right reserved.
6/11/03
Alice's
Legacy
Remembering Alice
The
"Handkerchief" has been anointed
and prayed over by several
believers who care about you and
want to help you realize your
full potential in Christ Jesus
Our Lord.
~The
Ten Commandments~
|
