Thursday, January 27 – Psalm 96:1-4
Why should we worship God when we pray?
Sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth. Sing to the Lord, bless His name; Proclaim the good news of His salvation from day to day. Tell of His glory among the nations, His wonderful deeds among all the peoples. For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; He is to be feared above all gods.
Wherever you are, take a moment and look out the window. Consider what part God had to play in all the things you see. When you see a building, He created the material that it is made of, the people who designed and built it, and even the scientific realities that help engineers know how to keep the building standing. When you see animals, you witness His creation. Nothing has been created completely independently of God.
The book of Psalms reveals a constant intertwining of worship and prayer. In today’s verses, that relationship is on full display. We are called to worship God when we pray because He is worthy to be praised. Too often we skip to our prayer requests without pausing to worship God. Whether we don’t want to or honestly forget, this communicates something about our relationship with Him. It shows that our desire to get something out of God is greater than our desire to acknowledge Him at work, see Him for who He is, and give Him the glory He is rightly due.
As we worship, we recognize our place and our indebtedness to Him. Every part of life ought to be considered part of our worship to God if we truly desire to bear His image. If our prayer life doesn’t include time to praise God for who He is, then we neglect to remember who He is. In Psalm 96, we see that God is our Creator, Savior, wonderful deed-doer, to be feared, and simply great. And this just scratches the surface of who God is!
Next time you pray, before you jump to your prayer requests or praises for your circumstances, take time to praise God simply for who He is. In this, we consciously recognize Him and His rightful place as Lord over our lives and willingly put ourselves under His authority.
- What amazes you about God?
- What are some things throughout your week that can remind you to worship God?
- Take time to pray and worship God for who He is without making any requests of Him.
