Praise Him

Here is a new post from Ron Bergthold. Our God is worthy of all our praise and confidence! Give us eyes to see Your worth and hearts to desire You above all earthly things. ~Jon

Praise Him!
by Ron Bergthold

What do you call someone who hangs around musicians? (Answer: A drummer.)

Voices and Instruments of Praise. Praise is the focal point of our name. The acronym VIP, normally meaning “Very Important Person”, still fits very well with Who we should be praising. But how exactly are we supposed to praise? If this is truly our reason for being, we ought to understand this term well.

One of two primary Hebrew words for praise is Halal. Yes, that is where we get the word Halleluia or Hallelu-Yah (Yah is short for Yahweh, or Lord), so this term is translated “Let us praise the Lord”. The root word for Halal means to boast. Boasting is normally considered a slightly evil act that is associated with being prideful and therefore not usually encouraged in everyday life. But Webster dutifully explains that boasting can be proper and justifiable if the claims are true. Boasting about God’s attributes is certainly justified, since these attributes literally define truth!

What can you boast about God? And do you personally believe it to be true? If nothing immediately comes to mind, turn to Psalms, which uses the word Halal over eighty times. The book of Psalms could have more accurately been named Praises, given its numerous references to specific traits of God and what about Him is praiseworthy. In fact, turn to the last seven Psalms (144-150) and there is nothing but praise, culminating with Psalm 150, which, by the way, we instrumentalists can claim as our very own!

It is certainly worthwhile to dwell upon Who God is. Just a few of the elements lifted up in Psalms include King, Rock, Victory, Provider, Rescuer, Lover, Guide, Teacher, Blesser, Builder, Satisfier, Righteousness, Hope, Fulfiller, Revealer, Maker, Healer, and Sustainer. There are many more that describe in further detail Who He is and why He is so worthy of our boasting at this moment.

Another Hebrew word for praise is Yadah (not to be confused with Seinfeld’s “Yada Yada”, which means “empty talk” and is the complete opposite of Yadah). Stemming from "the extended hand” or “to throw out the hand", Yadah means “to give thanks”. Though sometimes a symbol of Yadah is physically raising your hands up in thanks to God during worship, the meaning goes much deeper. This is the corporate and personal intake, impact and reflection of Who God is in us. He is Teacher, but what has He taught you lately? He is the Builder, but what has He done through you to build something that would Yadah Him?

We can Yadah God in as many ways as He is. One of the most obvious ways is listed in Deut 8:10, “When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land He has given you.” All we have that is good comes from Him and it is a natural response to thank Him for such things. However, a less obvious Yadah is challenged in 1 Peter 1:7, “These (trials) have come so that your faith – of greater worth than gold….may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory, and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.” So is your praise Yadah, or just Yada Yada??

For the TRBC Orchestra on January 7, 2009