Praise God

From first to last, we are to praise God. Two stories from the Bible come to mind that highlight the benefits of praise. First is the story of a choir leading an army into battle. Judah was under attack by enemies, and when King Jehoshaphat was informed, he turned to God in prayer. He began his prayer by recounting God’s power, then reviewed God’s previous workings, and ended with a request for help. When he had finished praying, God sent a promise through a Levite, and the service ended with songs of praise. The next morning Jehoshaphat told his people that since God had already promised them victory, they would have the choir lead the army! “Now when they began to sing and to praise, the LORD set ambushes against the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir” (2 Chronicles 20:22, NKJV). Do you see the correlation between praise and victory? The second story is from Acts, when Paul and Silas were in prison in Philippi. At midnight, they “were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was a great earthquake” (Acts 16:25, 26, NKJV).

I cannot help but see connections between this story and an episode found in John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress. In Bunyan’s allegory, two characters, Christian and Hopeful, are trapped in the dungeon of Doubting Castle. One evening, rather than bemoaning their fate, they start singing hymns and praises to God, which results in Christian remembering that he had a key called Promise that could aid them in escaping.

After discovering the key grew or shrank to meet the various-sized chains and doors, they had a brief discussion on why they had not remembered the key beforehand. They realized they had remembered after they had started singing praises. Christian says, “God’s word commands us to ‘rejoice always,’ and ‘in all things to give thanks.’ If we had obeyed, instead of looking at our circumstances and feeling sorry for ourselves, we would have used the power of promise long ere this.”* In everything, do not be anxious, but pray with thanksgiving!

Melinda Ferguson

* John Bunyan, The New Amplified Pilgrim’s Progress, adapted by Jim Pappas Jr. (Shippensburg, PA: Destiny Image, 2005), 257.