PRAISE THE LORD!

“It is good to praise the Lord…” Psalm 92:1

A story is told of a Pastor of a church who became concerned about the lack of response to his preaching from members of his congregation.  Such was the silence, no matter how splendid was his text or his carefully crafted sermons, that he wondered whether they were actually listening to him.  For that reason, one Sunday, he ascended into the pulpit with a bag of beans in his hand as well as his well worn Bible.

Moments before the service was due to begin, he had arranged for an elder in the church to sit immediately below the pulpit facing out into the congregation.  He had carefully explained the reason for the bag of beans. “If I drop one bean on your head during the sermon, I want you to say ‘Amen’ in a loud voice.” Somewhat bemused the elder had agreed to this.  “Furthermore, “ the Pastor continued, “If I drop two beans on your head, I want you to say ‘Hallelujah’. And if I drop three beans on your head, I want you to say, ‘Praise the Lord!’”.

When the time for the sermon came round, the Pastor made a good point, and there being no response from the congregation as usual, a bean discreetly fell from the pulpit onto the head of the elder.  “Amen!” shouted the elder rather excitedly as it had taken him by surprise. The Pastor noted a stirring in the congregation at such an unusual occurrence. As the sermon progressed, occasionally another bean produced another “Amen!”, at which someone else in the congregation added an “Amen!”.

Now the Pastor was encouraged, and at appropriate moments dropped a couple of beans, and even the occasional three beans.  Each time the elder faithful declared “Hallelujah!” or “Praise the Lord!” as appropriate. By now the congregation was listening intently and each time echoed whatever words of praise the elder declared.  Soon everyone was joining in. Encouraged at hearing this response to his sermon, the Pastor became excited and failed to notice in time as the bag split and all the beans poured out over the elders below.

And that was when they had the revival!

Of course it is probably untrue, but the story does carry an important message.  Revival cannot be created by religious exclamations, no matter how many. But revival has often produced a peon or praise where previously praise of God was rare.

As a teenager I went to an Operation Mobilisation conference in Chigwell, Essex.  Three other male friends and an Austrian Brethren lady had made the journey from Hastings.  It was through Heidi that we had learned about OM. She was working as an au-pair dor one of the leaders of the main Brethren Assembly in Hastings, and always dressed soberly and wore her hair in a bun underneath her hat. It was my first experience of this kind of gathering and I drank it all in enthusiastically.  On Saturday we had spent much of the day doing personal evangelism around London before attending a packed meeting in a London church where George Verwer, founder of OM gave a challenging address. Sunday morning saw around 500 of us filling a large tent for a communion service  The sense of God’s presence was awesome.

That evening, as we drove back home, the car radio picked up Sunday Half Hour.  As the words of much loved gospel hymns filled the car, I found that I couldn’t help from praising God out loud.  “Hallelujah”s and “Praise the Lord”s burst from my heart and through my lips uncontrollably as we drove home. Laughing, I declared “I don’t know what’s happening to me.  I think I might be becoming Pentecostal!”. Pentecostals were the only Christians I had ever heard saying these words that were now coming from my mouth. It certainly did not characterise the people at the Baptist Church where I was a member.

As we dropped Heidi off where she was staying, she lent through the car window and thanked us for taking her to the weekend’s experience.  Then, looking straight at me she said in her Austrian accent, “And Barry, if you t’ink you are becoming Pentecostal, please don’t stop yourself”.

I remained a Baptist, but my friends and I began praying for the people in our church.  We prayed for revival, and that God would make us all willing to experience all the fullness that he longed for us to enjoy.  We supported the short midweek prayer meeting that preceded the choir practice. Spontaneous and sincere words of praise that were familiar to us in our revival prayer meetings, began to puncture the silence during and between the prayers at the midweek meeting.  Soon, other more stayed church members began to feel confident to add their own “Amen” and “Hallelujah”. We were often late getting to choir practice. It marked the beginning of a radical change in the life of that church. It burst into life that brought many to find Jesus as their Saviour over the following years, including my sister and my mother.

God does not need our praise, and praising God is not the prerogative of any particular denomination.  Praising God aloud should be a spontaneous result of an experience of God’s love and grace, and our enjoyment of his saving power.  Do you praise the Lord?

Psalm 92 begins with the words, “It is good to praise the Lord, and make music to his name, O Most High, proclaiming your love in the morning and your faithfulness at night,”  So there is no room for the old chestnut, ”I’m praising God quietly in my heart”  As we freely and openly declare how much God loves us, and recite the ways in which he has shown this, we will certainly find our day lived consciously in the enjoyment of that love.  When evening comes, we will look back and wonder at how faithful he has been to us.

Why is it good to praise the Lord?  Because God delights in our enjoyment of our relationship with him and our experience of his goodness.  It is also good because others can hear how wonderful it is to know God and Jesus as our Saviour. If praising God has not been a natural part of your prayer life, try singing a hymn or song of praise to start or end your quiet time.  Tell the Lord each day what he means to you. It’s a great way to start the day. And don’t worry about what others might think. You’ll soon discover how good it is!

But be warned, praising God can be contagious and change churches!

Barry Osborne - 10th August 2019