Well, I have arrived at the end of the Psalms in my personal study. I’d like to spend a few days looking at some overall takeaway lessons from the Psalms. Last week we looked at the theme of those who are truly blessed. Today, let’s take some time to start looking at true praise.

In his message “The Evangelical Crisis,” Alistair Begg discussed the difference between entertainment and worship.

“…the underlying issue is the failure to begin with God and His glory, and instead we begin with man and his need. So our considerations become aesthetic. We start by asking what people would find nice, what they would find enjoyable, what they would find soothing. And as we endeavor to do this, we lose sight of certain basic foundational issues. Namely, that Christ Himself is the sanctuary of his New Covenant people… that the true aesthetic beauty is the holiness of the Lord, and that Christ alone is the only ordained worship leader of His people… so that many of our preoccupations, which have to do with the packaging, are nothing more than a capitulation to the spirit of the age…”

Begg goes on to look at Jesus’ conversation with the woman at the well in John 4; our worship must be full of truth and full of enthusiasm! One without the other is no good, and in my opinion, the majority of churches I have been in fall on one end of the spectrum or the other. We either sing hymns that are brimming with truth in such a way that makes you want to lay down and sleep on the pew, or we sing songs full of meaningless words with a fervor that makes tears come to people’s eyes or perhaps makes them jump up and down as though they are at a rock concert! Both are appalling!

I like the way Begg (who never minces words!) describes both ends of the spectrum – on the one hand, “We dare not baptize our cliche-ridden phraseology and our hackneyed hymnody into orthodoxy.” Just because it’s one of the “old hymns” doesn’t make it orthodox. Have you ever heard one of those Christian radio stations that will only play recordings so old that you can hear the record crackling on the turntable? Just because it’s old doesn’t mean it’s more true!

To the other end of the spectrum, Begg says, “A praise song… is one word, two notes, and three hours.” This is hilarious to me because it is so true! On the other end of the “praise spectrum,” some more modern songs seem content to pick a nice, appealing phrase and sing it over and over and over again. Tearing up as you repeat a stirring phrase like a mantra does not equal worship, either! It’s often simply an artificially induced emotional response. And you know what? I personally don’t like to jump up and down and “clap to God.” I find it irreverent, it’s not how I respond to God, and to create and environment that presses people to do so against their natural bent creates an artificial and fake “worship experience.” I don’t have a single thing against others raising their hands, but don’t make it a requirement, either.

If you’d like to hear a little more of my soapbox opinions about praise, I have big issues with how we teach children to sing to the Lord. Pick up most children’s “praise” cd’s, and you’ll find a whole bunch of nonsense songs. Ie: “father Abraham,” “arky arky,” “deep and wide,” “kum-ba-ya,” etc. Someone please tell me what theological value these songs have? I have absolutely no problem with singing silly songs (I sing “big booty/ tiny heiny” and the SNL “sloppy joes” song to my children quite often) – but please do not somehow make these ridiculous songs “spiritual.” We’re ingraining in our kids that a fun, exciting song sung in church = praise, even if it has absolutely no truth in it whatsoever. I’ve also heard far too many church kids’ songs that teach them to yell out the names of our God in such an irreverent way that it makes me cringe – basically, we’re just all swearing in unison! Do we understand that? We’re taking God’s name in vain when we use His holy name in such a flippant manner!

If this resonates with you, you will love this article about redefining worship for kids – excellent.

I will step off of the soapbox now.

Considering that the entire book of Psalms is a book of praise songs, what do the Psalms teach us about true praise?

Well, I’m going to keep you hanging because this post would be too long. You’ll have to wait until tomorrow. :) In the meantime, I’d love to hear from you… what’s on your mind?

p.s. After a comment I received on facebook about this post (“…who are we to dictate what is pleasing to God?”), I thought I would add this additional note.

WE do not dictate what is pleasing to God, but His Word has a lot to say about what correct worship is. Evaluating worship according to the Word is not judgemental, it is necessary. John 4:24 tells us to worship in Spirit and in Truth! The Psalms are an entire book of inspired praise songs. We’re not just taking a stab in the dark about what is pleasing to the Lord – we need to know Him and His Word well enough to know that we are not only worshipping the correct God, but that we are worshipping the correct God correctly!

Evaluating worship in the light of the Word does not in any way limit God – He always acts in accordance with His nature, and His nature is most accurately expressed to us through His Word.

I addresed this topic more in light of the story of Jephthah in the book of Judges.

*Image from wikipedia.org