When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen: “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”
Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!”
“I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”
(Luke 19:37-40 NIV)
May I share with you what the Lord taught me about praising him? I hope it equips you for spiritual warfare, buoys you up in your pain, and that the Holy Spirit fills your heart with the same internal sunshine that flooded mine.
Creation Sings
The Bible says that creation sings for joy to God. Jesus told the Pharisees that if people refused to praise him, the rocks would cry out. I have always understood that as a metaphor. I thought, Creation doesn’t really sing.
But a few weeks later, walking around a pond at a park with a friend, my perspective changed. Hearing the birds, bugs, wind, and water simultaneously making noise, I reacted, “Nature is loud!”
Without hesitation, my friend replied, “They’re singing God’s praises!”
Why yes, I guess they are, I thought.
Shortly after, while running through suburban neighborhoods on a spring morning, I marveled at the beauty of creation: I saw flowers in bloom on the ground and on trees; I heard birds chirping; I smiled at squirrels scampering.
They do sing, I thought. Birds, flowers, squirrels—their song is their being and doing, their existence. Birds, flowers, and squirrels glorify their Maker by being just what he created them to be. They are beautiful just as they are, and their existence reflects a little bit of his glory, for he made them. And when they function according to how he created them—in all their beauty—they display a bit of their Maker’s grandeur (Romans 1:20).
Creation Groans
Yet, creation has no words to declare God’s praise (Psalm 19:3). Creation does not relate to God as redeemer or friend (Galatians 4:4-6; James 2:23). And creation suffers the curse brought about by our sin. If you read the first three chapters of the Bible, you’ll discover how death entered the world on account of our sin (Genesis 2:16-17). Thus, trees lose all their leaves, the grass withers, animals die, and the flowers’ beauty perishes. Romans 8 says that all creation groans for the revealing of the sons of God—for the day when the last of God’s children has been brought into his kingdom and the world will be set free from the curse—it’s bondage to corruption (Romans 8:19-21).
Jesus Died to Restore Our Song
My mind drifted from the creation outside to my own heart. Leave creation behind for a moment and consider people, made in God’s image. We too could join creation’s song with voices that can declare God’s praise. We can even praise God by name—addressing him by his more personal names, “the Lord” (Yahweh), Jesus, or Our Father in Heaven (Exodus 34:5-7; Matthew 2:9-11; Matthew 6:9; John 16:26-27). We have minds that can communicate with him and hearts that can adore and know him personally!
But do we choose to join creation’s song, to praise God? No, all too often we are distracted—disinterested in him. Dare I say it, we often shake our fists at him, rage against him, think ill of him, steal his glory (seeking our own attention rather than diverting others’ gaze to him), and ultimately, we worship other things.
But when we put our faith in Jesus, he does not only deliver us from the curse—the power, penalty and even, one day, the presence of sin. He also gives us a new heart that desires to worship God (Ezekiel 36:25-27). And he gives us power—power to sing again—to join creation’s song in worship.
If you have put your faith in Jesus, then you have power to sing with creation the praises of our Creator, but with words, and from a place of relationship.
The War for Our Worship
But this won’t always be easy. See, we are in a war—a war for the glory and praise of God. The apathy and sin-sickness that cause us to be distracted or disinterested in the Lord diverts our praise. But our enemy will also use our suffering to tempt us to silence our praise. He hates God and does anything and everything to silence our worship.
We must remember that one expression of victory over our enemy is praise. The devil can’t silence creation’s voice (Luke 19:40), but he can silence ours by convincing us that God is not good, not kind, and not “for us” (Romans 8:31). And all too often we, the most powerful agents of praise, go quiet.
What a tragedy, I thought, on this beautiful day. To think that I would withhold praise from God, while the birds and the flowers and the water and the squirrels give it so freely—all while not even knowing God like I do!
Today, the birds chirping and the flowers blooming were God’s agents to teach me something about praise. I learned that my battle in my suffering is total spiritual warfare—the war behind the scenes of my ordinary troubles is really a battle for my worship (Ephesians 6:12). And once I saw the scheme of the enemy, I felt renewed strength to wave the banner of God’s love and give God the praise he deserves, regardless of how I feel or what difficulty I am walking through.
Join the Chorus
To say in our sweet seasons and in our suffering, “God is good, and God is love, and I will bless his name for it” is a war cry, that proclaims, “Not today, Satan. I will give my King the praise he is due. I know his ways are higher than mine. I know I will suffer—he has told me so (John 16:33). But he has bought me with his blood and has told me one day suffering won’t have the final word in my life. I always have plenty of reason to praise him.”
Despite the pain we endure, the challenges to God’s goodness that the devil whispers in our ears, the indifference and distraction we face, and the sorrow we experience, there is always reason to praise the Lord (Psalm 34:1). We can worship him with joy in our hearts and an attitude of humble thanks. We can praise him by thinking well of him even in our worst times. So will we join creation’s song, with our being and with our voices? Will you join in praising God today?