Why do we praise God? The Bible tells us to praise Him, but what is God’s reason and desire? Some atheists say God is arrogant and demands praise like a megalomaniac or narcissist. How do we respond to this criticism?
I had heard that criticism when I was younger, and I did not have a firm answer. I could say, “God is loving and perfect and deserves praise.” This is true of God, so I kept praising him. Yet I did not feel I was fully answering that question, even though I knew the statement against God was a lie from the devil and just disguised to look like atheists thought it up. There has never been a person born who said bad things about God on his or her own. Those bad words about God are all inspired by the Devil.
I found the answer when I was using a technique I learned from Dr. Charles Stanley. I mentioned the technique in my post about memorizing Scripture. I write a meaningful verse (or a few). Then I pray about that verse (I do that by journaling the prayer). Then I tell another person about the verse, and then I work out that verse in my day. One day I was considering which verses I wanted to write down from the Psalms. And there I saw my answer in a cluster of verses!
There are actually many Psalms (another other Bible books) with the answer I saw, so I will just give one example, from Psalm 66. Verses 1-2 are the kind Atheists use to say God demands praise and is arrogant: “Shout joyful praises to God, all the earth! Sing about the glory of his name! Tell the world how glorious he is.” But verse 3 begins to hint at why praising God should come naturally to us. “Say to God, ‘How awesome are your deeds! Your enemies cringe before your mighty power.’” While God’s enemies won’t like that description of cringing, notice how God’s works are mentioned in verse 3. What are some of those works? Verse 5 begins to tell that these works are miracles and are done FOR people (not for God’s sake): “Come and see what our God has done, what awesome miracles he performs for his people!” We are now seeing we praise God, because he does things for us, miraculous things. Verse 6 gives a specific example: “He made a dry path through the Red Sea, and his people went across on foot. There we rejoiced in him.” God saved the Israelites from the Egyptians, and the people wanted to rejoice in God (praise him). In verse 8 the Psalmist invites the whole world to praise God with him: “Let the whole world bless our God and loudly sing his praises.” In verse 9, the Psalmist tells us that God is helping us yet again: “Our lives are in his hands, and he keeps our feet from stumbling.”
I would love to go on and on to tell of the many verses where God’s power, glory, fame, might are praised by the Psalmists. As these writers extol God, they follow with examples of how God loves his people, redeems them, protects them, vindicates them. God is all powerful, but unlike a cold hearted Hollywood-favored actor who expects adoring fans to praise him but he gives them nothing, God delivers. He gives and gives. He shows us his power, beauty and majesty, not to scare us, over power us or even boss us around. He shows us this power so we can realize how amazing His help for us is and then understand (as best as our minds can) how wonderful HE is.
When we praise God, we are also thanking him. The more we consider how amazing God is, the more we are thankful that he uses all of his wonderful qualities for OUR benefit. The Hollywood-arrogant actors who demand praise want to be benefited by our praise of them. But we are benefited when we praise God. We get to think about how someone so strong and majestic loves us and serves us. The more we realize how strong and good God is, the more we can get excited to praise him, because we are so thankful for what he has done for us and keeps doing for us.
To praise God helps us. God the Father does not need our praise. He has the fellowship of Jesus and the Holy Spirit. God has no identity crisis and does not need us to affirm he is actually good. He already knows how wonderful he is. We need to praise him to remind us of how wonderful God is, and again, not to submit to any arrogance some imagine God is guilty of having, but to then be so glad this wonderful God uses his power to help us. The more we see God’s amazing qualities, the more we fall in love with him. We grow closer to him through this praise.
I doubt an atheist would insult the popular singers who extol the praises of their loved ones. We hear this in secular culture, and no one insults the singers for calling their loved one amazing. The same goes for sports fans and their praise of their team. Our world seems OK with praising everyone but our precious Lord who truly deserves the praise all the time.
So I hope I have answered this question atheists ask. I am sure they will come up with other objections against God, but we can always bring them back to the Bible and find answers to their questions. Most of all, we come to the Bible to find our own questions answered and to be reminded of how much God loves us.
Thanks for joining us in this post. I love to praise God and am glad you can join me in praising him!
This post was right on target. The other day this question came to mind as I know people who have asked me why does God want to be praised? Here you have answered it very well. I am going to bookmark your post so I can forward it to others I know who have questioned why we worship God. I love how you compare the praise of actors and stars and show how this is different than the praise God deserves. Thanks so much for this insight!
Angela, thank you! Your encouragement is a gift. We admire your writing, and the way you weave Hebrew (the original meaning of words we read in English), in your posts. We love to read your IFA prayers. You bless us!