You Have a Reason!

Psalm 30:11-12- You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; You have put off my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness, to the end that my glory may sing praise to You and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to You forever. NKJV

The power of praise is not just about getting the victory over an enemy you can see, but it is also about getting the victory over the enemy when you can’t see it! As we have covered the many words in the Old Testament that are rendered praise in the English language, we have seen the multitude of ways that we can praise our God. But today, I want to focus on why we should praise Him!

Psalm 30 was sung at the dedication of the house of David. David closes this psalm by stating that God had turned his mourning into dancing for him. David had wanted to build the Lord a house, a stationary place of worship. But God told him not to do it! Can you imagine wanting to do something for God and being told that you can’t do it because you have too much blood on your hands? David had to be hurt and deeply disappointed to hear this news. But God didn’t leave him there! God told David that his son Solomon would build the temple, and because of David’s heart to build God a house, God told David that He would build David a house! Therefore, David rejoiced after his home was built, declaring that God had turned his mourning into dancing!

All of us can probably relate to the concept of mourning. Whether we mourn the loss of a loved one, a relationship, a job, or a ministry, grief isn’t a stranger to any of us. Yet, David found that God was capable of turning his time of mourning into a time of dancing. As a result of what God had done for David, David proclaimed that he would “yâda” the Lord forever!

There are many reasons we should always be found praising God. One of those reasons is that we are His people, and it’s a command to us. In Psalm 150 it states:

Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!

Psalm 150:6 NKJV

Since there is breath in our bodies, we ought to be giving God praise! We all have something to praise Him for! Whether it is as spectacular as a miracle or as simple as the fact that we are still breathing, we have a reason to praise the Lord!

Praise belongs to the Lord! It’s another reason to give Him praise! He is our Creator, Deliverer, and righteousness, to name a few. No one else deserves His praise. He alone is exalted about the heavens; there is none like Him!

Let them praise the name of the Lord, for His name alone is exalted; His glory is above the earth and heaven. And He has exalted the horn of His people, the praise of all His saints—Of the children of Israel, a people near to Him. Praise the Lord!

Psalm 148:13-14 NKJV

Yes! Let’s just praise the Lord who is exalted over the earth! And let us praise the Name of the One who alone is exalted! He’s worthy of being praised!

God delivered David from the hands of his enemies! What enemies has God delivered us from? This is what David had to say after God delivered him from the hands of Saul:

“The Lord lives! Blessed be my Rock! Let God be exalted, the Rock of my salvation! It is God who avenges me, and subdues the peoples under me…Therefore I will give thanks to You, O Lord, among the Gentiles, and sing praises to Your name.

2 Samuel 22:47-48, 50 NKJV

About forty years ago, the IRS wanted to audit the family business. Prayer was offered about the situation because no one understood why the IRS wanted to do an audit. After much prayer, my sister-in-law had a dream where an angel went into the office and told the IRS agent to leave them alone! Sure enough, the next day, there was a call to the accountant telling him that the audit had been dropped. God is a good God; yes, He is!

I remember when one of my students thought he could get me fired from my position. He began to rant and rave in front of the entire class with several accusations against me. While I wasn’t concerned about his lies, I understood that he needed to be shut down. As I went to my classroom door to see if I could get some assistance, the principal just happened to be passing by. When I explained what was happening, the student was removed from class and suspended for what he was trying to do! Hallelujah!

Those are not life-threatening enemies, but they are enemies nonetheless, and God was the Deliverer, as He has been on numerous occasions!

Another essential reason to praise God is His mercies, which each of us has been a recipient of!

I will praise You, O Lord, among the peoples; I will sing to You among the nations. For Your mercy reaches unto the heavens, and Your truth unto the clouds. Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; let Your glory be above all the earth.

Psalm 57:9-11 NKJV

I never wake up thinking that God’s mercy has run out and I have to ask for it again! It is always available! So I never fail to praise Him because of His mercy towards my family and me! As a matter of fact, Jeremiah said that we get new mercies every single morning!

Through the Lord’s mercies, we are not consumed because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.

Lamentations 3:22-23 NKJV

Have you ever gotten out of bed the morning after a mess-up and realized that you had access to new mercies? If you did, I’m sure you stopped to give Him some praise because mercy is what we don’t deserve, but that which He continuously gives to us! And if we haven’t been giving Him the praise for His mercies, then we certainly should stop right now and do so!

And since Jeremiah brought up His faithfulness, it is the last reason I will mention in this post! Solomon made an astounding statement about God in 1 Kings:

“Blessed be the Lord, who has given rest to His people Israel, according to all that He promised. There has not failed one word of all His good promise, which He promised through His servant Moses.

1 Kings 8:56 NKJV

Solomon recognized and proclaimed the faithfulness of God! This caused praise to rise in his heart, and he had to get it out! God had been so faithful to the children of Israel and him that Solomon made it known that not one word of the promise God had made to them had failed! Not one!

I have been serving the Lord for a long time. Looking over my life, I can confidently say He has been faithful to me. I have endeavored to be faithful to Him, but there’s no doubt He has been faithful to me.

I have not exhausted the reasons why we should praise the Lord, but I thought it necessary to stop and mention that no matter our current circumstances, we have a reason to praise the Lord. So go ahead and give Him some praise! I even included a song for you to praise Him with! Wonderful Jesus!