Praise and Worship is an invitation for God to come

There are 2 aspects to praise and worship:  One, we praise and worship God for who He is, and two, we praise and worship Him for what He has done for us.

We, for example, do NOT praise and worship Satan, although some people do(!), and the reason we don’t is because of who he, Satan, is.  We praise and worship God because of His character, and is good and unchanging character, and so, reliable and dependable.  We praise and worship God because of what He stands for (in fact, who He is), holiness.  This is apart from what He has or has NOT done for us, specifically, say, today, this week or this month. 

Because of who He is, we know already, He has done and is doing much in the “backdrops”, and what He did and is doing in such, were and are for our good.  It is absolutely right to say there is no day where God has NOT done good to me.  I woke up this morning, alive, God has sustained me; the sun is still in its place and shining, God has done good to me, even though, this good is also done for others, that the sun is still in its place and shining as before.  God has put the celestial bodies in their place, and that act of God is providing good to me, all the time. 

Many take such for granted, and they would NOT think they ought to be thankful to God, and so, won’t  praise and worship God (re Romans 1:19-21).   Some would NOT even notice it, if they have missed a heartbeat, so to speak; hopefully, something, and to different people, different thing, something/happening will make them sit up to the goodness of God. Some are so hardened of heart, I suppose, even when the sun drops from the sky, so to speak, they still don’t realise how God has been good to us, men, because of who He is.

David recognised the goodness of God towards us, men, can you? David’s psalm 8:3-4 -  “When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?”

Oh, God, how we take for granted your quiet grace flowing out to us, all the time.

Next, we also give thank-giving praise and worship to God, for what He has specifically done in our lives.  Is it enough to have praised and worshiped Him for who He is or even for what He has done for us, generically (with other people also receiving along with us)?  The answer is no; NOT enough.  I give a simple illustration:

You have good parents, and I hope you have or have had (if you don’t, I pray you can learn to look to the Father God, for He is the perfect father; and He can be that perfect father to you, if you allow Him to).  Good parents being good, they of course, do all the base things, like they will provide you (FOC) good food, clothing and shelter, and if possible, education, and if they are believing parents, teach you and encourage you in the things of the faith.  When you were small, the breakfast was made ready waiting for you to eat; your school uniform ironed and ready for you to wear, before you go to school, and when you come back home, lunch or dinner were also provided for you.  These formed some of the “backdrops” of your life.  Many of us then, did NOT think very much about how good our parents have been.  Some of us might have even considered it natural of them, the parents, to do all of those backdrops, for that was what they were – good parents and good parents do those things-what!

The more appreciative ones amongst us, might have thanked our parents from time to time, for all the goodness they did in the “background things”.  But over and on top of these, there are many other things good parents do for their children, which their children ought to have noted and expressed their appreciation, too.  For example, I did this:

My kids (or even your kids or any school kid) were supposed to take care of this: to bring whatever books, files, homework or project work, etc, to school according to their school timetables.  One of my kids, repeatedly, forgotten to bring this and that, to school, and he would be punished for the oversight.  Some of the times, I would separately bring the stuff to school for him; that was really NOT what I was supposed to do; it was the kid’s reasonable duty to take care of that.  Shouldn’t he, my boy, be thankful for my coming to his aid for the specific problems he got himself into, which reasonably he ought NOT have gotten into?! 

The process of him realising he was NOT doing his part, and then asking for help, and then learning, albeit over multiple occasions, to be appreciative and thankful, did him good.  Especially, the last bit of it, the appreciation and thankfulness bit, when he repeatedly did that (for he repeated his mistakes), it NOT only showed his attitude (that he took NOT, his father for granted, after some time), it tenderised his heart (heart gets hardened when we numb our conscience) as he was before his father, and expressed his appreciation, each time. 

I am NOT God, and so, occasionally, I would tell him I could NOT make it (can be that particular time, the punishment would NOT be too serious for the boy; or it could be I really I had something very important to attend to).  That too, he soon learned to be appreciative.  Do you know that God, sometimes, does the same, although NOT for the reason that He cannot be omni-present (or that He cannot send his angel); only I am limited, God is NOT; but God does want us to appreciate there is such thing as our reasonable duty that we ought to learn to take care.

Thanking God, praising Him and worshiping Him for it, the “He gone out of His way to help you, specifically”, is important.  First, we need to understand that thanking, praising and worshiping, they are NOT blind, meaning you cannot say you express thanks when you thank nobody, you cannot say you praised and worshipped when you praised and worshipped nobody.  Who do you express thanks, praise and worship to?  If you are sincere, God will be right there, to receive your thanks, praise or worship. 

When our child wants to express thanks to us, parents, do you tell your child, “My boy, when you express your thanks, just face any tree you can find, and say it to the tree, or if you cannot find a tree, just say to the grass!”?  No; the same is with God, when you thank Him, praise Him and worship Him, it is NOT you are here, in this church hall, and God is light years away, in some corner of the universe, can’t see or hear you!  When your heart is right, He is right there in the room with you, to give ear to your expression. 

Nowadays, on the internet many interpretations are written for various verses in the Bible, and NOT surprising, Ps 22:3 is NOT spared.  But I will still say Ps 22:3 fits right in here.  And the version that fits it in, is the KJV: “But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.”

Some people, being legalistic, they would say, “If God has to inhabit the praises of God’s people, then we are bigger than God!” or “If God lives on the praises of His people, then God is here when we praise, AND God is NOT here when we do all of the other stuff, like praying, etc”.  Some even suggested that mutual exclusivity of verses implied this cannot be translation, that God inhabits the praises of people, arguing that Scripture has this verse of, when 2 or 3 are gathered in His name, God will be in their midst, with no praise mentioned in this “gathering” verse!  Or another said, “If God inhabits the praises of the people, we could manipulate God!”

To me, what David was trying to express was that despite, he then, NOT seeing the hand of God for him (Ps 22:1-2) (NOT yet), God was righteous (I use a lesser word to holy, just to make it easier to understand), and God was always being praised (or thankfully praised) (by the Israelites, the people of God).  Was David saying God was present, “evidenced” by the praises of the people?  Yes.  The Tabernacle and the Temple with presence of God in the Tabernacle or Temple, it primed people to have that understanding, and David was with that understanding, and David came up with the Tabernacle of Praise.  What do you think motivated David to set up the Tabernacle of Praise; I say, it is because he understood God inhabits the praises of the people.  And where God is truly enthroned, there is bound to be praises as an element of His glory (I explain this a little further down this article).

Now if I eat plain bread always (like for every meal), it is either I love plain bread, like it so much, that when you say there is plain bread, I would come to devour it, or I really don’t like it, but it is about the cheapest stuff I can afford, so, I eat it so very often!  Now, God is NOT me, the latter (reason) cannot be the case for God; if He doesn’t like, He does NOT need to eat it, does He?!  Of course, NOT.  It (His inhabiting the praises) is because God loves it, the praises.  If He does NOT like it, He can, NOT eat it, silly; He is God! 

We just had Palm Sunday (and Easter is coming).  In the first Palm Sunday (Luke 19:37-40), when Jesus was entering Jerusalem, and when multitudes and Jesus’ disciples praised God, some Pharisees told Jesus to stop His disciples.  Jesus answered, “"I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out."

Jesus said the very stones would praise God.  In other words, God wants the praises; if there was no praise, God would make the stones praise Him. 

True praises speak of who God is.  This scene was an “enthroning” scene.  Where God is truly enthroned, who He is, just necessarily “occupies” or “fills” the place or atmosphere.  The same was shown us of the throne in Heaven.  But before we look there, I remind that when Jesus first came, was born, there was praise; Luke 2:13 – “Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,”

In the Book of Revelation, God was shown enthroned, and praise was in the air – the 4 heavenly creatures (although NOT stones) were praising God, 24/7 (day and night).  Praises and worship of Him show who God is; where He is truly enthroned, there you will find praise and worship.  It is so wrong to insinuate we, men, are bigger, because God “needs” us to praise Him, or that we could manipulate God!  So very silly, God “needs” you to share the Gospel or do the Great Commission, you are bigger than God; you can manipulate God?

An acceptable way of viewing praise and worship is that it is part of or an element of His manifold glory.  Scripture speaks about us to ascribe to the Lord the glory due His name.  How do we do that?  Ps 29:2 gives us one important way – “Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness.”  It is part of God’s glory, if you don’t give it, He may make the creatures or even the stones, to cry out the praise and worship.  So, it is right and proper for us, and we should do it, to ascribe to the Lord the glory due His name, whenever there has been a specific works God done for us, and the way we do that includes giving thanksgiving praise.

What we are to go away with, on this (this revelation on “God inhabits the praises and worship”), is: Where God is enthroned, praises and worship will most likely to be present, as a manifest of His glory; and when there are praises and worship done in spirit and in truth, God is most likely to come there.  We don’t manipulate Him (and don’t do that, please); we invite Him to come to take the seat of highest honor in the house, so to speak, with our praise and worship, and He will come.

Bro Anthony, can you give us a precise example from Scripture where praise and worship was employed to usher the coming of God, and God came and acted in favour? Yes, I can:

There was a time when Judah, under King Jehoshaphat, was about to be invaded by a vast army made up of men from Ammon, Moab and Mount Seir; and the King was at a loss of how they could defeat the enemy.  The King and the Israelites went before God, and a prophet received the assurance that God would be on their side and that they should NOT be afraid to face the enemy, the next day. 2 Chronicles 20:21-22 reads,

“21 After consulting the people, Jehoshaphat appointed men to sing to the LORD and to praise him for the splendor of his holiness as they went out at the head of the army, saying: “Give thanks to the LORD, for his love endures forever.” 22 As they began to sing and praise, the LORD set ambushes against the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir who were invading Judah, and they were defeated.”

Have you heard it said, praise and worship is for our good? Why praise and worship is for our good!  One angle to look at this, is: Because He is invited, and when He comes, who He is, is here.  One manifest of who He is, we have talked about, is praise and worship is present when He is present (praise and worship itself can be spirit-lifting for those present; that too, is a reason why I praise and worship God like there is no tomorrow, in church services; blessing to the body); other elements of who He is, are likely to manifest, too, and it will be good and goodness to us. 

If you cannot picture it (how it can only be good to us), picture the horrible Satan gate-crashes your party; what would happen.  Now, think about God is here, in your party. 

Now, if you still cannot get the picture, think of yourselves as children having family time with our parents; what would the loving parents do? Their love manifest forth.  The mother will go to the kitchen and see if she could come up with some food and drinks.  Dad may say, “Son, I remembered you wanted this nice backpack that you could use to go mountain-climbing.  Here, I did get it for you.  I thought I will give it to you sometime, but well, you can have it now!” When God is here, who He is manifests; His glory manifests, His holiness manifests, His love manifests, His goodness manifest, His grace and mercy manifests.  How can you be in all of these, brought on, because God is here, because you have invited Him by your praise and worship, when the sweet aroma of it reaches Him, but will NOT be touched by God, if you allow Him to; and that (allowing) must include allowing God to “do to us” what He considers best for us.  The good parents, when they know how certain food is NOT good for you, they would bring out, none, to you, for they stock none of it, in the fridge!  Only good can come to you when you truly praise and worship Him, the good God, because He comes.

You want God to come; you invite Him, by praising and worshiping Him.  You don’t manipulate Him; rather you give Him the seat of highest honor.  And you wait upon Him, and you can petition consistent to His will.

Anthony Chia, high.expression - Lord, I learn, even as I pen this article.  Thank you, Lord. Amen.

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Seeking the face of God when one is afflicted by wicked people - Psalm 9

The way to read this article is that the orange underlined texts are the verses of the Bible (NIV, unless otherwise stated). The black texts following the Bible verses (and enclosed by square brackets) are my commentaries. At the end of these Bible texts and commentaries, I have inserted a section on "Points to take note".
{For full listing of all articles in this Psalms exposition series, click here}

[To me, this psalm is about seeking the face of God when one is afflicted by wicked people. This is a supplication by David to God when he was faced with wicked enemies (this was most probably not the first time he had faced wicked enemies). Because the heading of the psalm had in it, direction to the music director pointing to the tune of “The Death of the Son”, some commentators said that it got to do with the death of his, David’s, first son with Bathsheba (2 Sam 12); but I could see no apparent link with the death of David’s son (the son was from the adulterous affair with Bathsheba). The death of the child was pronounced by God as a punishment for David’s triple breaking of the Ten Commandments. David was guilty of covetousness, followed by adultery, and finally murder.

So, let us just treat this psalm as such, David’s psalm in a time of facing enemies who were wicked.]


1I will praise you, O LORD, with all my heart;
I will tell of all your wonders. [This is a psalm of King David. He opened this psalm with a reminder to himself, as well as to tell God that he would always do this one thing. And this one thing was to praise God. Praise is easy to understand – it implied singing, singing songs of praise, and worship, psalms, odes, etc. It can include other outward manifestations like clapping of hands and even dancing for the Lord. Another very important aspect of praise is to tell others how good and great God is, i.e. sing his praises, so to speak. Those were what David did – singing, and dancing and performing for the Lord, and he would do this with great exuberance (in fact with all his heart), as well as telling others of all of God’s wonders. David, ever since he was drafted into Saul service, from being a shepherd boy, was growing in influence. David used that which gave him influence, to spread the goodness and greatness of God.]
2 I will be glad and rejoice in you;
I will sing praise to your name, O Most High. [David said he will be glad and rejoice in God. It was not that there were no occasions at all that David had moments of sadness, and filled with frustrations. It could be, and can be for us all, too. Why? Because we are all living in a fallen world with Satan hard at work, and we are also subject to chastisement (which are not always to our liking) from God for our growth. Yet, just as David had and did, we must know that we have an underlying peace and fullness of joy that comes from the Holy Spirit that lives in us (for David, possibly not in him but was often with him because of the devotion and time David spent before the Lord, of course the Holy Spirit could come into David from time to time but unlikely the Spirit was dwelling in him like He is doing in us all); and we must choose to be glad and rejoice in God, in recognition to that belief. Faith must be acted out – in this case like David, we are to sing praises to God; when we do that, we are saying to God that we have faith in God to see us through all our life afflictions.]
3 My enemies turn back;
they stumble and perish before you.
4 For you have upheld my right and my cause;
you have sat on your throne, judging righteously.
5 You have rebuked the nations and destroyed the wicked;
you have blotted out their name forever and ever.
6 Endless ruin has overtaken the enemy,
you have uprooted their cities;
even the memory of them has perished. [How can we get ourselves to praise God despite our sad and frustrating circumstances? How can we act out our faith in belief that God is good, righteous, and great? Remember and recount, that was what David did here. David used a mix of past and present (present continuous) tense to declare to himself that not only God did, God would continue to do for him, the turning back of his enemies, the stumbling of enemies, and the perishing of enemies. David reminded himself that God was and is a righteous God; He had judged righteously and had upheld his right and cause. He was and is great; He had rebuked the nations and destroyed the wicked, even blotted the names of the wicked forever and ever. Endless ruin had overtaken God’s enemy, their cities God had uprooted; even the memory of them had perished – in the Book of Judges, there are recordings of such cities or places, one of them is Meroz (recorded in Judges 5 – Song of Deborah).]
7 The LORD reigns forever;
he has established his throne for judgment.
8 He will judge the world in righteousness;
he will govern the peoples with justice.
9 The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed,
a stronghold in times of trouble.
10 Those who know your name will trust in you,
for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you.
11 Sing praises to the LORD, enthroned in Zion;
proclaim among the nations what he has done.
12 For he who avenges blood remembers;
he does not ignore the cry of the afflicted. [When faith had arisen, David started to magnify the Lord. He declared the Lord reigns forever; He had established His throne of judgment. He will judge the world in righteousness; he will govern the peoples with justice (there is always justice with the Lord, not necessarily equality – the two is not the same). For the depressed, the Lord will be a refuge, and for those afflicted, the Lord will be the stronghold. For all who know God, and therefore have their trust in Him, when they seek the Lord, the Lord will never forsake them. So David was saying, with one who reigns forever, and judges righteously; one who is a refuge for the oppressed, stronghold for the troubled; and one who never forsake those who know Him and have placed their trusts in Him, and are seeking Him, as our Lord, we are to rejoice and sing praise to our God who is enthroned in Zion, the Holy Mountain, and proclaim His name among the nations – give testimonies to glorify the Lord. God is our avenger, and the marvelous thing is that He remembers, and he does not ignore the cries of the afflicted (cries against wicked people of Sodom and Gomorrah, for e.g.; also the cries of Israelites in Book of Judges when oppressed wickedly by enemies in the Promised Land), Hallelujah.]
13 O LORD, see how my enemies persecute me!
Have mercy and lift me up from the gates of death, [Psalm is in fact, also a prayer. We see here, as typical of a prayer, now David present his request before the Lord. He said, “O lord, see how my enemies persecute me!” It was as if David said, “Help, Lord, help”. Have mercy and lift me up from the gates of death. We see here that actually at this moment David was in affliction, yet we saw in the earlier verses of the psalm how David still got himself to magnify the Lord despite his circumstances; that is the attitude of heart that we must assume, in whatever circumstances that we are struggling in, we must arouse our faith to rise up to praise and magnify God.]
14 that I may declare your praises
in the gates of the Daughter of Zion
and there rejoice in your salvation. [It was as if David was telling God to do it again for him, “so that I may declare (yet another time) your praises (sing God’s praise) in the gates of the Daughter of Zion {possibly referring to Jerusalem}, and there, greatly rejoice (celebrate) in your saving of me.”]
15 The nations have fallen into the pit they {referring to the enemies in v13} have dug;
their {referring to the nations} feet are caught in the net they {referring to the enemies in v13} have hidden. [David explained to the Lord that he was (again) up against wicked people. David knew the heart of God concerning wickedness; put it mildly, God does not like wicked people. I believe this is one of the reasons why David was said to a man after God’s heart. David went on to paint the picture of the wicked people and what they did: Wicked people are like people digging pit or setting net to snare others. David said that nations had fallen into the pit dug by these wicked people; they were caught in the net the wicked people set for them.

Quite a few Bible commentators viewed verse 15 as David stating that wicked nation {Strong number used was 1471 which can mean “heathen”, but not necessarily wicked, but if the parties were taken to be self-referring, then wicked nations were implied, which was not necessarily the case} had fallen into the pit they themselves had dug, or that they were caught in the every net they themselves had set. The verse by itself can be interpreted as such, and if such was the interpretation, the next verse, v16, was just to reaffirm the same position; although some scholars chose to explain verse 16 as God in executing his justice, ensnared the wicked with the works of his (God’s) own hands.

However, I personally feel that firstly, verse 15 was a description of the modus operandi of the wicked, and secondly, it was to be a clarification of the nature of David’s enemies mentioned by David in verse 13, i.e. it was meant to give a description of the kind of enemies that David were facing. In other words, the “they” in verse 15 were referring to the enemies in verse 13, not necessarily referring to the “nations” in verse 15 itself. If one was reading verse 15 in isolation or by itself, of course, “their” could only be referring the “nations” in the same verse itself. You can take either interpretation, but I believe whichever interpretation we use, clearly the NIV translation of the next verse, v16, is correct, i.e. the wicked are ensnared by the works of their hands, not God’s hands. That, I believe, was why the special musical notation “Higgaion” was used here (see next verse).]
16 The LORD is known by his justice;
the wicked are ensnared by the work of their {own} hands.
Higgaion {mediate on that}. Selah
17 The wicked return to the grave,
all the nations that forget God. [David knew how God would deal with wicked people. God would and will use the wicked people’s very snare to punish them, i.e. God would/will cause wicked people to be ensnared by the works of their own hands! {Of course, it does not mean that God cannot execute his own form of punishment}. David said this was God’s known justice. Even in our times, under the New Testament times which many regarded as an era of grace and mercy (of God’s preference to be long-suffering, to be deferring judgment until the End, and to be giving people time and chances to repent), I believe God still does let the stubbornly wicked people get a taste of their own medicine even presently (present life). Wickedness and holiness are directly opposite. God is holiness, and you need holiness to see God. Where God is enthroned it is holy because He is holy. So, heaven is a holy place. God is holy and heaven is a holy place, and we want to go to heaven; the Scriptures exhort us to be holy as God is holy. If holiness gets to do with God, wickedness, Satan. If holy people get to heaven, wicked ones, Hell (or temporary, Sheol). So, in a figure of speech, it is correct to say holy ones come from heaven, wicked ones from the grave or Sheol (or even Hell). David said here, let the wicked return to the grave. What David was imploring God to do was to act presently concerning wicked people, send them to the grave; including all the nations that had forgotten the Lord. But why, you might ask, that nations that had forgotten the Lord be included? I believe nations that had forgotten the Lord had in them great numbers of wicked people, because nations that had forgotten the Lord, many depravities went unchecked, there were no voices to speak up against any form of wickedness. On the other hand, for nations that had not forgotten the Lord completely there will always be some voices speaking for the Lord, and calling for repentance.]
18 But the needy will not always be forgotten,
nor the hope of the afflicted ever perish.
19 Arise, O LORD, let not man triumph;
let the nations be judged in your presence.
20 Strike them with terror, O LORD;
let the nations know they are but men.
Selah [While David was calling for action presently by God towards the wicked people, he was also imploring God to help those who need the help of God (the needy here are not necessarily limited to those in physical destitute, of lacking food and clothing, although these could be included), and fulfill the hope of the afflicted ones so that that hope would not die out.

David, knowing God’s heart concerning wickedness, also hated people setting themselves up against God or were proud, having no regard for God (and God opposes the proud, said the Scriptures), so he called on God to arise, not to let man triumph; he asked that God judge presently the nations (wicked nations or nations that had forgotten God), and display his wrath [a display of wrath like that on the wicked place of Sodom and Gomorrah would surely strike great terror) so that the nations would know they were but men.]


Points to note/learn:

This psalm gave us a good model to follow when we want God’s help when facing wicked people.

1. Despite our circumstances, (and I can tell from first-hand experience that it is very demoralizing, and depressing, and outright frustrating when you are up against wicked people), we must remind ourselves, and even tell it to God, that we will always praise God, with all our heart. Very difficult, at times, but we must, if we profess that our trust is in the Lord.

2. Remember that praises include both singing (and dancing ,etc) praises to God, and singing his praises (testifying His goodness and greatness)

3. We must choose to be glad and rejoice in God. We must firstly know and believe by faith that we do have an underlying peace and fullness of joy that can come from the Holy Spirit. We must choose to act out our faith by singing praises to the Lord. The Apostle Paul was imprisoned yet he chose to be glad and rejoice in the Lord by singing praises to God. What happened after that? The prison shook and prison doors opened.

4. Still find it difficult, use David’s approach – recount God’s goodness and greatness. In the past, how have God delivered you? If you did not have much to go by, hang onto those of others, testimonies you have heard of. If even that, was lacking, look to the Word, many had been afflicted in the Bible; what God did for them, God can do for you too; claim them for yourselves.

5. And when your faith has arisen, even magnify the Lord. Are singing praises (v2) to God and magnifying God the same? Not necessarily, just in matter of degree or shades, we go from singing praises to magnifying. From a choice, and recounting of the past, you push your faith into action, to sing, to sing praises, more of referring the past in giving of your exaltation to God. Magnifying calls for moving into declaration, into making things bigger so to speak (you can never over-stretch God), of attributing greater importance (to the role of God, for example), of injecting greater expectation and excitement into your circumstances, of letting your faith to call forth the reality of God into your future, as opposed to referring to the past when you started off in singing praises. It is not hyping; it is speaking of the true perspective – God is gigantic, and your problem or enemy is tiny, God can fix it.

6. Tell God your problem or enemies; in this case, the problem is with wicked people, the enemy is wicked. Tell God to judge for you because you cannot likewise be wicked, go tick for tack. If indeed, your enemy is wicked, God knows how to turn your enemy’s wicked scheme back on him, the enemy, and turn your situation around. Please understand that we cannot be wicked just because someone is wicked towards us. If you turn wicked as well, you may lose the hands of protection/blessing of the Lord.

7. And when you secured your victory, do not forget to sing God’s praises, and give thanksgiving unto God (v14).



Anthony Chia, high.expressions - Lord, deliver me from my wicked enemy.

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