PSALM
150:1,2,6: Praise ye the Lord. Praise God in
his sanctuary: praise him in the firmament of his power. Praise him for his
mighty acts: praise him according to his excellent greatness. Let everything
that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord.
One
of the dominant themes of the Book of Psalms is praise. The entire book ends with
it. Ancient scripture shows us plainly that praising God was very much a part
of religious worship.
The
various heavenly beings that John the Beloved saw on the isle of Patmos in his
Revelation, were all worshipping the Father (Revelation 4:8-11). John also
taught that exalted beings will continue to worship Heavenly Father in the
eternities to come because He will always be our God (D&C 76:21; 92-93). In
response to John’s vision, Elder Neal A. Maxwell affirmed that “we will go on
praising the Lord for ever and ever”. (From
Whom All Blessings Flow, Ensign, May 1997, 12).
The
practice of praising God seems to be a foreign one in our day and age. All our
prayers consist of is thanksgiving and requests. Rarely in our prayers do we
praise God for who He is and what He does.
One
of my favourite scriptures of all is what I call a modern-day psalm recorded by
Joseph Smith:
“Let
the mountains shout for joy, and all ye valleys cry aloud; and all ye seas and
dry lands tell the wonders of your Eternal King! And ye rivers, and brooks, and
rills, flow down with gladness. Let the woods and all the trees of the field
praise the Lord; and ye solid rocks weep for joy! And let the sun, moon, and
the morning stars sing together, and let all the sons of God shout for joy! And
let the eternal creations declare his name forever and ever! And again I say,
how glorious is the voice we hear from heaven, proclaiming in our ears, glory
and salvation, and honour, and immortality, and eternal life; kingdoms,
principalities and powers!” (D&C
128:23)
Whenever
I read this scripture my heart swells with admiration of our God and His
immense power. So well did Joseph understand this power that he felt the very
nature should shout praise to Him who created all things, the greatest of which
is God’s work and His glory to bring about eternal life and immortality of man
(Moses 1:39). This is thanksgiving veiled in praise.
Something
important to remember. We have to know what we praise in God: who He is, what
He does, His involvement in our lives, His love, His constant care, His
greatness. We have to know God. If we do not glean this from our own lives, we
need to do so from the scriptures. Our knowledge of His greatness needs to be
so great that we struggle to find mortal words to express it. This knowledge
needs to be so ingrained in our hearts that
no amount of adversity can take it away from us.
Until
we find utterance for the deserving praise of Him who lives our souls to save,
may we allow our desire to grow until such words flow from the very depths of
our hearts:
I long to praise Thee
With magnitude of words I cannot find
That tell the glory that is Thine.
As I can do so little this desire to
meet,
I place my loyal love at Thy holy
feet.
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