Build a Throne of Praise

OK, everybody’s doing it.  If you are not doing it, get with the program – that is… 21 Days of Thanks.  You know, where you post something you are thankful for every day for 21 days between November 1 and Thanksgiving?  I’m doing it on Twitter/Facebook.  Others may be doing it in blogs or wherever, but if you are not doing it – shame on you for not following along with the crowd.

Seriously, though, we really should take this whole Thanksgiving thing more seriously, and I was reminded of that this morning listening to a podcast of Louie Giglio of Passion City Church in Atlanta. Not to break my arm patting myself on the back or anything, but I understand the importance of giving thanks in the life of a Christian and I try to make it a point for thanks to be a regular part of my Christian routine.  The problem is this: if you interpret “routine” to mean “ritual” then you would probably not be too far off.  Allow me to explain.

I understand that praise and thanksgiving are important in prayer.  I have studied and taught about prayer from the Model Prayer (or the Lord’s Prayer if you prefer), so I understand that “hallowed be thy name” is a phrase of worship and reverence.  So… a number of years ago I made a point to take extra care and effort to begin (almost) every prayer with some form of statement of thanks or reverence or worship.  It has become second nature in my prayer life.  Second nature, however, can be a mask for ritual.  Remember that childhood prayer we used to pray?

God is Great, God is Good;

Let us thank Him for our food.

By His hands we all are fed,

Thank You, Lord for Daily Bread

  

As I child I can remember saying that at every meal.  It became a ritual even before I understood what it meant.  So much so that I can remember at one point quietly asking myself why the lettuce should be thanking God for our food! …Think about it… you’ll get it.  Sometimes my adult prayers are no less ritual than my childhood prayers – especially when I am ritualistically giving thanks at meal times.  I know you will think this makes me a heathen, but it can be such a problem for me that sometimes I intentionally do not say grace at dinner, just to remind myself that giving thanks at dinner is not supposed to be ritual.  There, I admit it.

I also understand the importance of ongoing thanksgiving in the normal course of the Christian life.  I have studied and taught through a number of Paul’s epistles and he speaks of giving thanks more than any other epistle writer.  Actually, in the ESV version of the New Testament, Paul mentions “thanks” or “thanksgiving” 49 times in his epistles compared to ZERO (0) – yes – ZERO – times by the other epistle writers.  Don’t believe it?  Go look it up.  As such, studying Paul’s epistles have taught me how incredibly important it is to give thanks.  Despite all that Paul went through, he was thankful for everything and everybody that the Lord brought into his life.  Because of statements that Paul makes like “We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers” (1 Thessalonians 1:2), which he makes in almost all of his epistles (except for Galatians, but that is a special case… bad bad bad)… anyway, because of such statements, I too try to remember and give thanks in my prayers.  But after a while, I start thinking “did I remember to give thanks for _______” and so I have to ask myself the question:  Am I really thankful, or am I just going through the motions… ritual.

I was actually having this thought this morning during my prayer time.  This whole “21 Days of Thanks” thing has got me thinking about whether I really am – or am not – a thankful person.  Truthfully, over the last week or so, even in the midst of posting my daily thanks, I have felt unthankful and, honestly, a bit distanced from God.  Yes, that is a confession, but you know that you have been there too, right?  I regularly pray for my own relationship with God because I never want to drift away from him.  However, we all do it from time to time and lately, I have felt distant.  I hate that feeling.

Enter Louie’s podcast.  I have a number of preachers that I listen to on my morning and (usually) afternoon commutes (OK, I must confess that sometimes – especially during football season - I listen to Finebaum in the afternoon on the radio – if you don’t know, don’t worry about it).  But most of the time, I am listening to various preachers. It is my way of redeeming my commute and warding off road rage. In this particular podcast, Louie was discussing anxiety and specifically his past struggles with anxiety; but a significant part of his discussion centered around Psalm 22 where the psalmist said in verse 3 that “You are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel” (ESV).  Of course the old KJV of this verse says “thou inhabitest the praises of Israel.”  I don’t know much about the ancient English word “inhabitest” but I think in modern English we would say “inhabits” instead.   Personally, I like the ESV version better because “enthroned on” has a much clearer meaning to me than does “inhabits.”   To say that God is enthroned on my praises means to me that he has built his royal throne on the foundation of those praises.  In other words, where our praises are is where God sets his royal throne. As Louie Giglio put it in his message, if we want to feel the presence of God in our lives, then we need to build a throne of praise.

For this to take place, those praises – thanksgiving, worship, and reverence, if you will – must be more than just routine and ritual.  They must be real and from the heart.  To paraphrase the song by Matt Redman (and others), I need a heart of worship, not a routine of worship-like activities. To be sure, there are times when I have a true heart of worship, but there are far more times when I don’t have a heart of worship at all.  If God is enthroned on my praise, is it any wonder then that most of the time I do not feel the presence of God in my life? 

• I don’t want my thanksgiving to be like a child’s prayer.
• I don’t want my praise to be nothing more than a ritual.
• I don’t want a routine that is no more than a checklist of things to remember to be thankful for.   
• I don’t want to be a hypocrite when it comes to my worship.  

I realize that as a born-again, baptized by the Holy Spirit, follower of Jesus that I am indwelt at all times by the Holy Spirit. I also realize that as a result I should feel the presence of God in my life at all times – but I don’t – and you don’t either, do you? What I really want is the fully enthroned, majestic, glorious presence of Almighty God in my life all the time. 

• When I am sitting in that hostile meeting, I want the majesty of Jesus that Isaiah saw to be with me.
• When I am doing the bills and there appear to be more expenses than income, I want the full-on comfort of the Father to be there telling me “trust in me, not in the dollar”. 
• When I see no way in which I could possibly minister with any level of success given the circumstances and available resources, I want the presence of Holy Spirit reminding me that success depends upon the ability of the one who fed the 5000, not my ability. 

To have this constant presence of God requires a throne of praise.   Paul had this pegged.  His letters were filled with specific and real thanksgiving and praise… and his doxologies reflected that his worship was truly from the heart. David had this pegged, which is why we can attribute so many psalms to him.  His praise and thanksgiving came from the heart.  Job had this pegged.  Though he lost everything he owned, he could look at his wife and say “Blessed be the name of the LORD” – and mean it!

I want that!  At a minimum, I think I need to incorporate some praise and worship into my commute as well as bible teaching.  But in general, I want more praise in my life so as to build the foundation for the throne of God in my life.  God is enthroned on the praises of his people!  So I (we) need to praise him.

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. (Eph 3:20-21 ESV)

Comments welcome and encouraged…

The Louie Giglio message referenced in this blog can be viewed from the video link below:

"I Lift My Hands"

  

This blog is Copyright (c) 2012 Joel J Dison.