The Praise-Filled Lifeनमुना

The Truth About God and About Us

By Michael Youssef, Ph.D.

An amazing thing happens as we praise God for all He is and does. We see more clearly the truth of His nature. We see that He is the unlimited, holy, eternal King. We see that He is all-knowing, all-wise, and all-powerful. We see Him as loving, merciful, and long-suffering.

When we come to God in praise and adoration, we also see more clearly the truth about ourselves, including the truth of our sinfulness and unworthiness. Let me openly confess that I have never come into the presence of God—praising Him, adoring Him, and honoring Him with the fruit of my lips—when I did not also become more conscious of my own limitations, faults, and sins.

The more we grasp all that God is, the more we face all that we are not.

Job was a man so godly that God bragged about him, but when God revealed His great power, Job replied in humility,

I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted…. My ears had heard of you, but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes (Job 42:2,5-6).

No matter how righteous we are, seeing God’s glory confronts us with the tarnish and stain of our own lives. The reason for this is not to make us walk through life with our heads hanging low, but that we might repent of our sin and rely on God and cry out to Him to forgive us and strengthen us by the power of His Holy Spirit.

Praise God because He gives us an opportunity to see our sin so we can ask Him to work in us, to change us into the men and women we truly desire to become. The prayer of our hearts should always be, “God, make me into the person You want to live with forever!”

Prayer: Holy God, as I learn about who You are, I cannot help but worship You. Everything good comes from You, and Your strength is sufficient in my weakness. Humble me so that I will depend on You fully. I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.

“My soul will rejoice in the Lord and delight in His salvation. My whole being will exclaim, ‘Who is like You, O Lord?’” (Psalm 35:9-10).