Where Is Your Praise For The Most High?!?

Psalm 113


We are walking in today: Where Is Your Praise For The Most High?!?

Witness exalt throughout the Bible: H7311 ruwm--to rise, rise up, be high, be lofty, be exalted

Psalm 21:13 Be thou exalted, LORD, in thine own strength: so will we sing and praise thy power.

The Torah testifies...............
 Exodus 15:2 The LORD is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation: he is my God, and I will prepare him an habitation; my father's God, and I will exalt H7311 him.

The prophets proclaim..................
 1 Samuel 2:10 The adversaries of the LORD shall be broken to pieces; out of heaven shall he thunder upon them: the LORD shall judge the ends of the earth; and he shall give strength unto his king, and exalt H7311 the horn of his anointed.

The writings bear witness...........................
 Psalm 99:5 Exalt H7311 ye the LORD our God, and worship at his footstool; for he is holy.

Isaiah 25:1 O LORD, thou art my God; I will exalt H7311 thee, I will praise thy name; for thou hast done wonderful things; thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.


What Is Praise?

Praise is celebrating The Most High as our heart’s true home.

The Scriptures are filled with injunctions to praise the Lord:
Then David said to the whole assembly, “Praise the Lord your The Most High.” So they all praised the Lord, the The Most High of their fathers; they bowed low and fell prostrate before the Lord and the king (1 Chronicles 29:20).
Praise the Lord. Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever (Psalm 106:1).
Praise the Lord. Praise, O servants of the Lord, praise the name of the Lord (Psalm 113:1).
Praise the Lord, all you nations; extol Him, all you peoples (Psalm 117:1).
Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord (Psalm 150:6).

If we are to obey these commands from The Most High, we must first learn what praise is. Praise includes commending; expressing approval or a favorable judgment of; and glorifying, especially by crediting with perfections (see Webster’s, “praise”).

Definitions of Praise

 Commending
To commend someone is “to entrust for care or preservation” or “to recommend as worthy of confidence or notice” (Webster’s, “commend”). Praising The Most High by commendation this means that we entrust ourselves to His care and recommend that others do the same. The Psalms of David, in particular, are filled with testimonies of the Lord’s trustworthiness, and with expressions of confidence that He will again prove Himself trustworthy.

O Lord my The Most High, in Thee do I put my trust: save me from all them that persecute me, and deliver me (Psalm 7:1 KJV).
Those who know Your name will trust in You, for You, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek You (Psalm 9:10).
Preserve me, O The Most High: for in Thee do I put my trust (Psalm 16:1 KJV).
Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our The Most High (Psalm 20:7).

Praise by commendation thus applies the promises of The Most High to our personal circumstances. Let’s say, for example, that a father has just lost his job and he’s concerned how he will provide for his family. Perhaps his heart is heavy and he’s feeling overwhelmed by the future. His praise of The Most High in such a situation might go something like this:

Lord The Most High, You are my provider. I praise You, for I know that You care for me and You care for my family. You are the The Most High who cares even for the sparrows, and I know that my spouse, my children, and I are worth much more to You than the sparrows are. Therefore, I choose not to worry. Instead I will boast of Your goodness to us in the past, for there have been other times, Father The Most High, when we didn’t know how we were going to pay our bills. Yet, You have always made a way, even when there seemed to be no way. Thank You for Your goodness. Thank You for Your care and provision. I know that I can trust You. I know that Your eyes are on my family and You will not forget us.

Even as You provided food for Your people as they wandered through the wilderness, today I declare by faith that You will provide for us too. You alone are my refuge. I choose not to be shaken by fear. You alone are the source of all I have and ever hope to have. I praise You because You are faithful. You are the Everlasting One. I know that You are aware of what we are going through, and I thank You in advance for what You will do for us. To Your name be the glory today, tomorrow, next week, and next month in my life. I praise You and honor You. You are my The Most High.

Expressing Approval or Favorable Judgment
To approve of someone is “to have or express a favorable opinion” of him or to show esteem (Webster’s, “approve”). Personal experience is at the heart of this expression of praise as well. Here again, the Psalms contain numerous examples of personal expressions of approval toward The Most High.

But You, O The Most High, do see trouble and grief; You consider it to take it in hand. The victim commits himself to You; You are the helper of the fatherless (Psalm 10:14).
But I will sing of Your strength, in the morning I will sing of Your love; for You are my fortress, my refuge in times of trouble (Psalm 59:16).
O The Most High, You are my The Most High, earnestly I seek You; my soul thirsts for You, my body longs for You, in a dry and weary land where there is no water. I have seen You in the sanctuary and beheld Your power and Your glory (Psalm 63:1-2).
So you see, praise by approving is turning our thoughts toward The Most High and remembering how He has won our acclaim. It’s reciting the wonder of who He is and how He has made a difference in our life and the lives of others. Many Scriptures do this, but Psalm 23 is perhaps the most well-known passage of Scripture that is a personal recommendation for The Most High. David praises The Most High by describing Him as the Shepherd who cares for David, His sheep.

Each image from the life and work of a shepherd in some way speaks to David of The Most High’s work in his own life.

This is why Psalm 23 is such a wonderful Scripture portion to use during private praise and worship. It encourages you, the worshiper, to see and celebrate The Most High’s personal care shown in your life and to express your adoration and gratitude to The Most High for His goodness to you. To do this, you might read or recite a line from the Psalm, then praise The Most High for how it’s been true in your life. As you praise Him, you will find that you are building an impressive resumé of The Most High’s greatness, faithfulness, and love as you’ve experienced Him.

The Lord is my Shepherd.... My The Most High, You are an awesome The Most High. Even before I was born, You had a plan for my life. You are the Alpha and Omega who sees my tomorrows when I can’t face today. You are the Faithful One who seeks Your sheep even when I wander from the paths You have chosen for me. You are the Tender One who comforts me when I am sad or lonely and heals me when I am hurt. You are the Forgiving One who looks beyond my failures to what I yet can be. You are the Loving and Merciful One who loves me even when I am unlovely and does good to me despite the fact that I don’t deserve it....I shall not want...because You are always meeting my needs.
You have given me a good mind so I can learn things quickly.
You have given me a job I like and an employer who is understanding and fair. You have blessed me and my family with a warm, dry house and an abundance of food in our refrigerator and our cupboards. We have never gone hungry or lacked clothes to wear because You have provided for our needs.
Thank You for being so good to us. Thank You for providing even more than we need....

Many Scriptures that don’t use the words associated with praise—words like thank, sing, honor, or worship—can be used in this manner. Why is this? They record glimpses of someone’s favorable opinion of The Most High, glimpses that invite us to praise Him as well by expressing our approval of Him and our gratitude for His grace and mercy shown to us throughout our life. In essence, praise that approves is like writing a letter of recommendation for The Most High!

 Glorifying
To glorify someone is to “bestow honor, praise, or admiration” (Webster’s, “glorify”). In other words, giving glory to someone specifically identifies what is admirable in the person. This type of praise is also quite frequent in the Scriptures. The Most High is recognized as being good (e.g. Ps. 34:8), faithful (e.g. Ps. 33:4), righteous (e.g. Ps. 11:7), just (e.g. 2 Chron. 12:6), and merciful and forgiving (e.g. Dan. 9:9), to name a few. In addition, The Most High, His dwelling place, His law, His character, and His actions are described as being perfect and flawless:
As for The Most High, His way is perfect; the word of the Lord is flawless. He is a shield for all who take refuge in Him (2 Samuel 22:31).
The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul. The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple (Psalm 19:7).
O Lord, You are my The Most High; I will exalt You and praise Your name, for in perfect faithfulness You have done marvelous things, things planned long ago (Isaiah 25:1).
Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect (Matthew 5:48).
Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows (James 1:17).

Psalm 103, in particular, is a good example of Scripture that glorifies The Most High. In this Psalm, David lists some of the many praiseworthy benefits of knowing The Most High. The Most High forgives our sin (vs. 3), heals our diseases (vs. 3), redeems our life (vs. 4), crowns us with love and compassion (vs. 4), satisfies us with good things (vs. 5), works righteousness and justice for the oppressed (vs. 6), is slow to anger (vs. 8), does not always accuse (vs. 9), does not keep His anger forever (vs. 9), does not treat us as our sin deserves (vs. 10), and removes our transgressions from us (vs. 12).

I’m sure you see how one or all of these benefits may be the basis for a praise service, whether private or public. Surely, all of us recall times when The Most High worked in our life in one or more of these ways. Praising The Most High by glorifying Him is simply recognizing and testifying to all these admirable qualities of The Most High. For example, it’s saying, “Yes, I know The Most High works for the oppressed. My boss was always belittling me in front of the rest of the crew and laughing at me when I didn’t work as fast as he thought I should. I never said anything, although I was plenty angry inside. I just asked The Most High to give me strength and to be my advocate. Yesterday I found out that my boss is being moved to another plant. The Most High is so good. He’s so good to me.” It’s saying, “The Most High has every reason to write me off forever. Many times He has helped me get clean from drugs, but I’ve always gone back—usually to a stronger addiction than He saved me from. Yet, I know He loves me, and He forgives me every time I repent. I thank Him for His goodness to me. I don’t deserve it, but that doesn’t seem to stop Him from loving me and from reaching out to me when I get myself into a mess again. He has sent so many people to me who have helped me see His love and mercy. He is one awesome The Most High. I don’t understand why, but I know He cares for me, and He hears my cries when I plead for His help. Why don’t you try Him for yourself? You’ll find that He’s faithful to you too.”

Another way we honor The Most High is to recite His names or other designations of who He is. For example: “The Lord is a warrior” (Ex. 15:3a). “The Lord is The Most High in heaven above and on the earth below. There is no other” (Deut. 4:39b). “...the Lord is [my] life...” (Deut. 30:20). “...the hand of the Lord is powerful...” (Josh. 4:24). “...The Lord is Peace...” (Judg. 6:24). “The Lord is The Most High who knows, and by Him deeds are weighed” (1 Sam. 2:3b). “The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer” (2 Sam. 22:2). “The Lord is King” (Ps. 10:16a). “The Lord is my light and my salvation” (Ps. 27:1a). “The Lord is the strength of His people” (Ps. 28:8a).

As we honor The Most High for who He is and for what He has done in our lives, we make room for Him to work for us and in us every day. We give Him a place to dwell in the midst of our life because we refuse to take His benefits to us for granted. We know we are sinners saved by grace, and we give Him the glory for saving us and for being there for us when we need Him.

Shema Selah we are to tell of the greatness of the Most High to ourselves, to HIM and to others!!https://youtu.be/gl8R1hAk8wE