One of my favorite verses in Scripture is (Psalm 50:23): “Whoever offers praise glorifies Me…” The reason I love this verse is that it shows me that when I praise the Lord I actually glorify Him and for the Christian there can be no greater use of our time and energy than to glorify our God.
William Law offers us great insight here when he said: “God smiles when we praise and thank Him continually. Few things feel better than receiving heartfelt praise and appreciation from someone else. God loves it, too. An amazing thing happens when we offer praise and thanksgiving to God. When we give God enjoyment, our own hearts are filled with joy.”1
The Westminster Shorter Catechism asks the question, “What is the chief end of man?” It then goes on to answer the question as follows: “Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.”
Just what is a catechism? Simply put it is a teaching designed to teach the Christian faith. The Westminster Shorter Catechism was developed to teach members of the church the doctrines of the Bible. The entire catechism consists of 107 of these teachings and each teaching has Scripture references for the student to study. And it is only fitting that the catechism’s first question is its most famous and I dare say most important: “What is the chief end of man?”
Have you ever wondered why God created you? It wasn’t that God was lonely or needed us. He was perfectly content and in sweet fellowship within the Trinity. I believe that God wanted to shower His awesome love on His creation and we became the objects of that love. The natural question to then ask is what is our purpose for living?
I believe when we truly comprehend just how special we are to God, just who we are in Christ, how wonderful it is to be a Christian, and how we will spend eternity, with a glorified body, with Jesus, then spending our waking hours glorifying God will not only prove a great privilege but a delight and joy!
One of the main reasons that Christians don’t experience more abundant joy in life is because they don’t glorify God enough. There is a wonderful verse that ties together glorifying God, enjoying His presence, and putting a smile on God’s face found in the book of Psalms that reads: “Delight yourself also in the Lord, And He shall give you the desires of your heart.” (Psalm 37:4). You see when we delight in the Lord, God’s desires become our desires, and our desires become God’s desires. I love what John Piper says: “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.”2 When we are delighted in God we will be much more prone to do everything to the glory of God and this will bring us great satisfaction and joy, and yes, put a smile on God’s face!
My friends praising God as I shared in an earlier devotion this week is something we can do all the time – even when we are feeling down! For we read in (Psalm 150:2): “Praise Him for His mighty acts; Praise Him according to His excellent greatness!” You see the psalmist is telling us that we don’t just praise God based on how we feel but based on who He is. But you might say you mean we should praise Him even when we are feeling down and sad? Yes, for Jesus is always worthy to be praised for His greatness is literally off the charts!
And in closing I would like to share a secret with you. I have found that the Scriptures tell us that the best antidote to lift our spirits when we are feeling down and out is to praise the Lord. (Isaiah 61:3) is great medicine for the soul, for it reads: “To console those who mourn in Zion, To give them beauty for ashes, The oil of joy for mourning, The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; That they may be called trees of righteousness, The planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.” Notice this verse says to put on “…The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness…” Praising God when you don’t feel like doing it is the very best way to see your spirit soar and bring joy to your heart. Not only that, but I believe when we don’t feel like praising God, and do it, we put a big bright smile on the Lord’s face. And there is absolutely nothing more wonderful than seeing our actions bring enjoyment to the Lord!
1 Inspirational Quotes by William Law
2 Our Grand Obligation: Glorify God by Enjoying Him Forever | Desiring God