Praise 12
There is in us an instinctive desire to do something that will last. This is why the Sackler family of opioid infamy insisted a plaque with their family name be placed underneath every piece of art they purchased for the Met in New York City. This is why Lyndon Baines Johnson, while whipping votes for the 1964 Civil Rights Act, said, “What will they think of you, not in 1964, but in 1984?” This is why aged quarterbacks weep when they find they have made it into the NFL Hall of Fame in Canton. This is why Hitler insisted the Third Reich would last for a thousand years. This is why there are headstones in cemeteries. This is what motivates men to attempt and to do outstanding things, and to do them with painstaking care – so that they will last.
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| NFL Hall of Fame Canton, Ohio |
This desire is a good thing, I think, for it births mighty endeavors. But time is the great leveler. We are surrounded by the fragmented ruins of ancient civilizations wherever we reside. In most cases, we do not know much if anything about who they were, let alone who among them specifically did what. There is a Stonehenge forty feet deep beneath Lake Michigan. Who put it there? No one really knows. There are numerous Indian burial mounds all up and down the hiking trails I surmount along the Mississippi River. Who put them there? No one really knows.
Why, then, would God give us this desire – to accomplish something permanent – if it cannot be done? Because there are some worthwhile and permanent things we can achieve. We can, for example, influence people toward God. They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever. (Daniel 12.3) But this, too, is difficult, for it requires the willing consent of others to be so influenced. Is there anything we can do, all by ourselves, that will last forever? Is there anything we can do, within reach of every man, that will last forever?
Yes. One thing. His praise endureth for ever. (Psalm 111.10)
Is this the praise He does or the praise we offer to Him? Fifty times endureth for ever is found in the King James Bible. Forty-nine of them are clearly about something God does, has, or is. For instance, His mercy, His righteousness, and His Word all endure forever. Some assert that this phrase, his praise in Psalm 111.10, is similar and speaks to the praise that God does Himself of us that will last forever. Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God. (I Corinthians 4.5)
I love that verse. And I will not quarrel with them that someday God will praise us, as unbelievable as that sounds, and that it will last forever since this praise is God's Word. But they put too short an interpretation on Psalm 111.10. Why? Because all of the other ten times his praise is found in Scripture, it means praise belonging to Him rather than praise done by Him. (Psalm 34.1, Psalm 66.2, Psalm 66.8, Psalm 102.21, Psalm 106.2, Psalm 106.12, Psalm 149.1, Isaiah 42.10, Isaiah 42.12, Habakkuk 3.3) Ergo, I do not believe it is wrong to interpret Psalm 111.10 as my praise of Him rather than His praise of me.
Think of it: the one thing we humans can do alone on this Earth, each of us, that will last forever is to praise God.
Much of what we spend most of our life pursuing is composed of things that please our five senses. Food tastes good. We touch fabrics and bodies and the fine grain of wood. We inhale the tender scent of a baby's head or the fragrance of a lily. We watch screens and read books with our eyes. We listen to music and the sound of our loved one's voice over the phone. Yet none of these last.
Did you ever notice you cannot feel God with any of your five senses? You cannot taste Him. You cannot touch Him. You cannot smell Him. You cannot see Him. You cannot even hear His voice. To touch Him, we must do so spiritually, using our spirit. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. (John 4.24)
Many years ago, I read a biography of
Helen Keller. At nineteen months old, she contracted a disease that left her
deaf and blind. She grew up an unruly child for good reason. At the age of six,
Anne Sullivan arrived. Helen called that day her soul's birthday. Anne, who was
visually impaired herself, was a teacher. She slowly taught Helen the concept
of language and then words themselves, for nothing else could be done with
Helen until communication could be established. At one point, holding a very
frustrated Helen on her lap, Anne held the deaf and blind Helen's hand up to
her lips as she voiced words. Helen touched Anne's lips as they moved and felt
Anne's breath on her hand.
Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan
reenacting the moment.
As a young man, I walked out of Raco Steel one night during my break. The street was dark. I was glad; it hid my tears. I was bleeding out emotionally for a variety of reasons. I thought of that story of Helen and Anne. Walking, weeping in the dark, I held my hand toward Heaven and whispered, "I want to touch Your face." In His lovingkindness, He did. Heaven came down and glory filled my soul.
Many a night since I have walked down a dark street and whispered, “I want to touch Your face.” Often, He lets me. I touch His face sometimes when I read the Bible, sometimes when I pray, but almost always when I praise Him.
What I am trying to say is this: The tangible things we so often pursue with our five senses do not last; if you want to accomplish something permanent, you must seek and praise God in your spirit. Nobody else will see what you build. Nobody else will touch what you build. Nobody else will hear what you build. Nobody else will taste what you build. Nobody else will smell what you build. But what you build in so praising God will endure forever. It is the stuff of which God’s home is made. But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel. (Psalm 22.3)
It is safe to assume I will never make enough money to build a wing in the local hospital and have it named after me. If I did, it would not last anyway. But there is a wing on God's house in Heaven that I have been building since about the age of fourteen. And it will last forever.
You can do that too.
All you have to do is praise Him.
