This post is from a guest blogger, Leah Lambart. Enjoy

Praise the Lord
What if we are meant to praise God?
What if our highest purpose is to learn how to praise God without ceasing?

Praise God in the good times. Praise God in the bad times. Praise God for the blessings. Praise God for
the losses. Praise God.

A lot of our prayers are focused on the self. Please help us have a safe drive. Please watch over our
work and keep us safe. Please provide good weather. What if our goal is to learn how to take
out the self and replace it with focusing on God? Praising God as our life purpose?

For the past three years, I’ve read through the Bible. It was a goal since the summer of 2001
and I finally completed that goal in 2018, many years after setting it. At the end of 2020 when I
was finishing my plan for the year, I read Psalms 146-150 over the course of a few days. It
occurred to me that Praising God is a valuable activity. What if God planned it to be our primary
activity? But don’t take my word for it. Let’s go to the Good Book. All quotes are from the New
International Version, unless otherwise specified. First, the Psalms:
Psalm 146
1 Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord, my soul.
2 I will praise the Lord all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.
3 Do not put your trust in princes, in human beings, who cannot save.
4 When their spirit departs, they return to the ground; on that very day their plans come to nothing.
5 Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord their God.
6 He is the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them— he remains faithful forever.
7 He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets prisoners free,
8 the Lord gives sight to the blind, the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down, the Lord loves the
righteous.
9 The Lord watches over the foreigner and sustains the fatherless and the widow, but he frustrates the
ways of the wicked.
10 The Lord reigns forever, your God, O Zion, for all generations.
Praise the Lord.

Psalm 147
1 Praise the Lord. How good it is to sing praises to our God, how pleasant and fitting to praise him!
2 The Lord builds up Jerusalem; he gathers the exiles of Israel.

3 He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.
4 He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name.
5 Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his understanding has no limit.
6 The Lord sustains the humble but casts the wicked to the ground.
7 Sing to the Lord with grateful praise; make music to our God on the harp.
8 He covers the sky with clouds; he supplies the earth with rain and makes grass grow on the hills.
9 He provides food for the cattle and for the young ravens when they call.
10 His pleasure is not in the strength of the horse, nor his delight in the legs of the warrior;
11 the Lord delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love.
12 Extol the Lord, Jerusalem; praise your God, Zion.
13 He strengthens the bars of your gates and blesses your people within you.
14 He grants peace to your borders and satisfies you with the finest of wheat.
15 He sends his command to the earth; his word runs swiftly.
16 He spreads the snow like wool and scatters the frost like ashes.
17 He hurls down his hail like pebbles. Who can withstand his icy blast?
18 He sends his word and melts them; he stirs up his breezes, and the waters flow.
19 He has revealed his word to Jacob, his laws and decrees to Israel.
20 He has done this for no other nation; they do not know his laws.
Praise the Lord.

Psalm 148
1 Praise the Lord.[a] Praise the Lord from the heavens; praise him in the heights above.
2 Praise him, all his angels; praise him, all his heavenly hosts.
3 Praise him, sun and moon; praise him, all you shining stars.
4 Praise him, you highest heavens and you waters above the skies.
5 Let them praise the name of the Lord, for at his command they were created,
6 and he established them for ever and ever— he issued a decree that will never pass away.
7 Praise the Lord from the earth, you great sea creatures and all ocean depths,
8 lightning and hail, snow and clouds, stormy winds that do his bidding,

9 you mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars,
10 wild animals and all cattle, small creatures and flying birds,
11 kings of the earth and all nations, you princes and all rulers on earth,
12 young men and women, old men and children.
13 Let them praise the name of the Lord, for his name alone is exalted; his splendor is above the earth
and the heavens.
14 And he has raised up for his people a horn,[b] the praise of all his faithful servants, of Israel, the
people close to his heart.
Praise the Lord.

Psalm 149
1 Praise the Lord.[a] Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise in the assembly of his faithful people.
2 Let Israel rejoice in their Maker; let the people of Zion be glad in their King.
3 Let them praise his name with dancing and make music to him with timbrel and harp.
4 For the Lord takes delight in his people; he crowns the humble with victory.
5 Let his faithful people rejoice in this honor and sing for joy on their beds.
6 May the praise of God be in their mouths and a double-edged sword in their hands,
7 to inflict vengeance on the nations and punishment on the peoples,
8 to bind their kings with fetters, their nobles with shackles of iron,
9 to carry out the sentence written against them— this is the glory of all his faithful people.
Praise the Lord.

Psalm 150
1 Praise the Lord.[a] Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens.
2 Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness.
3 Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise him with the harp and lyre,
4 praise him with timbrel and dancing, praise him with the strings and pipe,
5 praise him with the clash of cymbals, praise him with resounding cymbals.
6 Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.

Praise the Lord.

Reflecting on the Psalms, I thought back to a verse from the book of Job that got me through an especially hard time: Job said, “Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither; the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh. Blessed be the name of the Lord.” (Job 1:21, Kings James Version)

Job praised God for the blessings and the losses.

In Matthew and Mark, Jesus advises us to keep watch. We do not know when our time will be over here
on earth. Based on this not knowing, we should focus on our highest priority, which is God.
Matthew 24:42 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.
Matthew 24:13 13 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.
Mark 13:35 “Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come
back—whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn.”

Revelation, the last book of the bible, focuses on praising God:

Revelation 4:8-11 Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around,
even under its wings. Day and night they never stop saying: “‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God
Almighty,’[b] who was, and is, and is to come.” 9 Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and
thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever, 10 the twenty-four elders fall
down before him who sits on the throne and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their
crowns before the throne and say: 11 “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor
and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.”

Revelation 5:11-14 Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon
thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and
the elders. 12 In a loud voice they were saying: “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power
and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!” 13 Then I heard every creature in
heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, saying: “To him who
sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!” 14 The
four living creatures said, “Amen,” and the elders fell down and worshiped.

Revelation 7:11-12 All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four
living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12 saying: “Amen!
Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and
ever. Amen!”

Heavenly creatures are devoted to praising God. If these creatures, who were created to be near God and
devote their existence to God, spend their time praising God, we as humans should take a notice.

Based on these passages, I believe we should devote more time to praising God.