Psalm 9:1
“I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart;
I will tell of all thy wonderful deeds.”
One of the funny things about praising God in the Bible is how much of it consists of telling other people, not God, about how wonderful God is. It’s the “Did you see that?” phenomenon. Somehow things aren’t complete if I only praise God in my prayer closet and keep it just between him and me. I have to tell somebody else! We do that even in our ordinary lives. If we hear a good song, we aren’t content to say, “That was a good song!” We have to tell our friends, “Listen to this! Isn’t this great!” We share books, tv shows, recipes, and just about anything else we love. The world rings with praise and most of it is people praising things to one another. So it is not surprising that the inspired authors of Scripture (and particularly of the most musical and poetic book in the Bible) follow this entirely human habit by praising God in a fully human fashion: by telling everybody else “all thy wonderful deeds.” We should do the same. For to give thinks with our “whole heart” is to involve everything about our lives—-relationships included—-in the great work of worship to which we are called. So don’t be shy. Praise him to a friend.
