Earlier this month, I was talking with someone who was telling me about her misadventures. Her relatively new phone had stopped functioning for a while and an attempt of fixing the problem had resulted in her losing all her data, pictures and videos which had unfortunately not been backed up. A good ‘slice’ of her life had just disappeared. Then her car decided that it had served its time. Still, she gave thanks to God that she did not have to purchase another phone (which would have been the case since it wasn’t insured). As for the car, she told the Lord that He needed to replace it then, she praised Him. I asked her how and she replied that she had said something along these lines: “Lord, I praise You for this testing and I thank You for I know that You will give me another car.”
I told her that was not praise. She was taken aback and did not understand; so, I asked: "And what if He doesn’t give you another car?"
"I’ll still give thanks for His decision, but I'll be sad; it will be a consolation." (She said this with a pitiful look on her face which told me she had not contemplated that option at all.)
"In that case, why did you thank Him for it in the first place?"
"Have you read 'The Power of Praise'? This is what is recommended!"
"Yes, I’ve read it; but that is not the spirit of the book."
Even more disconcerted, she insisted: "But, it is..." And some examples followed.
"Wrong! This is what one might think after a superficial reading; but it is much more than that. Your prayer is not centered on the Lord, it is focused on you and on what you want to get. In 'The Power of Praise', people praise the Lord after they have truly deposited ALL at his feet; after their total surrender to His will..."
I went on to explain that the Lord is the object of true praise: His will, His love, His wisdom and His science (to name a few). Praise is not a magical key that we use to 'force' God to give us what we desire; it is rather something that we offer unto the Lord, regardless of the fact that He gives us what we want or not.
This is what Daniel's friends told the king who threatened to throw them into the fiery furnace (Dan 3:17-18): "Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up." In other words, "We worship a God who delivers. And even if He doesn’t do it this time, it doesn’t change a thing. We know He is a God of deliverance and we’ll not serve your gods." Here is a theocentric praise. It is not, "Oh Lord I praise You because You have delivered Daniel and his friends; and Jeremiah; and Paul and Silas; and, and... You will also deliver me." We usually multiply such words because we think we can sweet-talk God and coax Him into delivering us/doing our will.
We do not praise the Lord because He will give us this or that; we praise Him because He is God and as God, praise is due to Him. It is a debt, an obligation, and not a favour: "Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!" “Through him (i.e. Christ) then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name.” (Ps 150:6, Heb 13:15)
In order to praise the Lord in Spirit and in truth, we must reduce or humble ourselves (or even disappear) and He must grow before our eyes. We must focus on His goodness, omniscience, omnipotence and also on His sovereignty. We have to accept deep down in our hearts that: 'I do not know, but He knows; I cannot, but He can; I do not understand, but He understands; I'm lost, but He is not; it hurts, but it' is necessary.'
I told the person I was talking with, that she should have said something like: "Lord I praise You for Your love and kindness to me. I praise you because my future is in Your hands and is thus in the safest place in the world. I thank You for this car which you allowed me to enjoy for X years. You have even given us two cars while many people still dream of being able to afford their first second-hand car. Now, that it is written off and I was used to the comfort it gave me, I would love to have a new car; but you know best what You are doing in my life and why all this has happened. My life is not determined by a car; it is worth more than that. With or without a car, the joy and peace I have in You are priceless. I know that if You do not replace the car, then I simply do not need it anymore and You’ll show me how to live without it. However, notwithstanding what You will do, I praise You because You are Good!”
Can you see the difference? When one prays like that with sincerity of heart, the prayer ceases to be egocentric and becomes theo / Christocentric. It is absolutely useless to tell God that we praise and give Him thanks for the car, home, job, healing, husband, wife or children that we want whereas we know in our hearts that we will be really sad (and possibly angry) if at the end, things do not turn up the way we hope. It is for such prayers that the Lord said: "This people honours me with their lips, but their heart is far from me." (Mat 15:8)
God reads hearts; let us adore Him, praise Him and serve Him in Spirit and truth.
Have a ‘wonderblessed’ week in HIM: He is the BEST!
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