December 6, 2010, Revelation 4

Key Verse:

“You are worthy, O Lord our God, to receive glory and honor and power. For you created all things, and they exist because you created what you pleased.”

Revelation 4:11

Central Truth:

The chief purpose of man is to praise God, who is the only worthy object of our praise.

Atta boy!

God finds pleasure in us when we praise him. This is our chief purpose, the one thing that we should do really, really often. It brings Him pleasure. The text says that we exist because He created what He pleased. This is after it says He created all things. He wanted to add something to the fact that He created all things. That is He wanted to make sure we knew that He took pleasure in us when we praised Him.

This year my son played flag football. His team was pretty good. Good enough in fact that he was lucky enough to play in the league championship game. He plays defense, and it was a tight game going deep into the second half. The “other” team was driving late in the game going for what would be a game winning touchdown with time winding down. They decided to throw a deep pass about ten yards away from the end zone. As the ball flew through the air my attention went from the quarterback to the kid who caught it. My nervousness turn to anxiety thinking that I (err we, err my son) was about to lose this game when I see my son pull the boys flag. I hear my wife yell, “That’s my boy!” I’m not quite that cliché. Can you imagine my smile? That feeling of utter joy... I reveled with my boy as he did what he was supposed to do. Coach sent him out there to pull the flag. That was his main job, and when he did it, that brought me (and the coach) joy.

Most people understand why we are supposed to praise God, but few think about what our praising Him does to Him. Would it change how you offer Him praise if you understand how it brings him joy? Will it make you more intentional about reducing distractions when you praise Him? When I pray I usually focus a lot of time at the beginning on praising Him. I pray a lot in my car when I drive. That’s not the best situation because I am a bit distracted (I do try to pay a little attention to the task of driving). I should find some time at home, when the kids are in bed, and my wife is reading a book to turn off the TV and be alone with God. I think being this intentional with my prayer time would be significant in God taking pleasure in our conversations.