“Sing the glory of his name; give to him glorious praise!” Psalm 66:2
It is not left to our own option whether we shall praise God or not. Praise is God’s most righteous due, and every Christian, as the recipient of his grace, is bound to praise God from day to day.
It is true we have no authoritative rubric for daily praise, and we have no commandment prescribing certain hours of song and thanksgiving. But the law written upon the heart teaches us that it is right to praise God, and the unwritten mandate comes to us with as much force as if it had been recorded on the tables of stone, or handed to us from the top of thundering Sinai.
Yes, it is the Christian’s duty to praise God. It is not only a pleasurable exercise, but it is the absolute obligation of his life. Do not think, you who are always mourning, that you are guiltless in this respect, or imagine that you can discharge your duty to your God without songs of praise.
You are bound by the bonds of his love to bless his name so long as you live, and his praise should continually be in your mouth, for you are blessed, in order that you may bless him—“the people whom I formed for myself that they might declare my praise”—and if you do not praise God, you are not bringing forth the fruit which he, as the Divine Husbandman, has a right to expect at your hands.
Let not your harp then hang upon the willows, but take it down, and strive, with a grateful heart, to bring forth its loudest music. Arise and chant his praise. With every morning’s dawn, lift up your notes of thanksgiving, and let every setting sun be followed with your song. Girdle the earth with your praises, surround it with an atmosphere of melody, and God himself will hearken from heaven and accept your music.
E'en so I love thee, and will love
And in thy praise will sing
Because thou art my loving God
And my redeeming King
Adapted from Morning and Evening.
