In the beginning, God created Adam from the dust in the ground, and He created Eve from one of Adam’s ribs. He created them from nothing, giving them an identity. Their offspring Cain and Abel may have come from angels, as God in Jeremiah 1:5 says, “Before you were in the womb, I knew you.” Where else could they come from? The Bible doesn’t say that God created Cain and Abel from the dust in the ground or from someone’s rib.
Adam and Eve, and Cain and Abel, got the gift of life from God, but they didn’t expressly praise God. Maybe the offerings of Cain and Abel were their way of offering praise.
Noah, who is considered to be one of the most righteous men, did not expressly praise God either, though he offered burnt offerings to Him. Abraham doesn’t expressly praise God either. It isn’t until Rebekah, a relative of Abraham, helps someone (Was she a neighbor to him?), that we apparently have the first instance of someone expressly praising God. In Genesis 24:26-27 “The man bowed his head and worshiped the LORD and said, ‘Blessed be the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken his steadfast love and his faithfulness toward my master. As for me, the LORD has led me in the way to the house of my master's kinsmen.”
From there it is all uphill as far as praising God is concerned, as the generations after have praised Him.
The Bible doesn’t tell us what compelled the man to praise God. There was no commandment for it. Perhaps man’s intelligence evolved to the point where they realized that because of God they existed in the flesh. Some may wonder why, with man’s tendency to evil, the gift of life on earth should be such a wonderful thing. The closest analogy, perhaps, is when a child is born to parents. But it isn’t until a child starts to enjoy life does it occur to them to honor their parents, apart from what the Bible commands them to do in Exodus. And perhaps people who have come to enjoy life may ask themselves how it is they are so fortunate to live on earth.
But the Bible tells us to praise the Lord for the gift of life on earth He has given us. Some may ask if being in Heaven is such a good thing, then why has God put us on earth? Maybe He feels it’s necessary to test His angels, to see if they would withstand the temptations of Satan.
There are other reasons to praise the Lord. While we’re on earth, God shows us ways we can avoid the temptations of Satan so we can return to Heaven. For that, perhaps, we praise Him as we would give thanks to a teacher helping us to learn. But the Bible commands us to praise the Lord. Why? We know that God has a tendency to be jealous, so by praising Him we give Him our attention.
It would seem sometimes that we praise God since He helps keep Satan from us. But He put Satan on earth to begin with. How much better things would be if Satan wasn’t around! It’s almost a sort of plea bargain. God offers to keep us on righteous paths, if we praise Him for helping to keep Satan away from us. It’s almost sorta like a prosecuting attorney telling us he would reduce our sentence if we named our accomplice.
With the arrival of Jesus, we have a new reason to praise God. We praise him fro sending His son Jesus so we might we saved from temptations toward evil. We always had evil amongst us, but with our spreading to the ends of the earth we have lost sight of what God stands for and what He wants from us. Jesus brings us back to having a greater respect for God.
There is no set time for praising God. You don’t have to wait until you enter a House of worship, or the High Holy days. The Bible makes clear that any time and place, and reason, is fine. We can praise Him for reducing our suffering or for enabling us to avoid suffering. We can praise Him for pulling us through. To the extent that He loves adulation and is a jealous God, He cannot get enough praise from us regardless of how often we praise Him.
Adam and Eve, and Cain and Abel, got the gift of life from God, but they didn’t expressly praise God. Maybe the offerings of Cain and Abel were their way of offering praise.
Noah, who is considered to be one of the most righteous men, did not expressly praise God either, though he offered burnt offerings to Him. Abraham doesn’t expressly praise God either. It isn’t until Rebekah, a relative of Abraham, helps someone (Was she a neighbor to him?), that we apparently have the first instance of someone expressly praising God. In Genesis 24:26-27 “The man bowed his head and worshiped the LORD and said, ‘Blessed be the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken his steadfast love and his faithfulness toward my master. As for me, the LORD has led me in the way to the house of my master's kinsmen.”
From there it is all uphill as far as praising God is concerned, as the generations after have praised Him.
The Bible doesn’t tell us what compelled the man to praise God. There was no commandment for it. Perhaps man’s intelligence evolved to the point where they realized that because of God they existed in the flesh. Some may wonder why, with man’s tendency to evil, the gift of life on earth should be such a wonderful thing. The closest analogy, perhaps, is when a child is born to parents. But it isn’t until a child starts to enjoy life does it occur to them to honor their parents, apart from what the Bible commands them to do in Exodus. And perhaps people who have come to enjoy life may ask themselves how it is they are so fortunate to live on earth.
But the Bible tells us to praise the Lord for the gift of life on earth He has given us. Some may ask if being in Heaven is such a good thing, then why has God put us on earth? Maybe He feels it’s necessary to test His angels, to see if they would withstand the temptations of Satan.
There are other reasons to praise the Lord. While we’re on earth, God shows us ways we can avoid the temptations of Satan so we can return to Heaven. For that, perhaps, we praise Him as we would give thanks to a teacher helping us to learn. But the Bible commands us to praise the Lord. Why? We know that God has a tendency to be jealous, so by praising Him we give Him our attention.
It would seem sometimes that we praise God since He helps keep Satan from us. But He put Satan on earth to begin with. How much better things would be if Satan wasn’t around! It’s almost a sort of plea bargain. God offers to keep us on righteous paths, if we praise Him for helping to keep Satan away from us. It’s almost sorta like a prosecuting attorney telling us he would reduce our sentence if we named our accomplice.
With the arrival of Jesus, we have a new reason to praise God. We praise him fro sending His son Jesus so we might we saved from temptations toward evil. We always had evil amongst us, but with our spreading to the ends of the earth we have lost sight of what God stands for and what He wants from us. Jesus brings us back to having a greater respect for God.
There is no set time for praising God. You don’t have to wait until you enter a House of worship, or the High Holy days. The Bible makes clear that any time and place, and reason, is fine. We can praise Him for reducing our suffering or for enabling us to avoid suffering. We can praise Him for pulling us through. To the extent that He loves adulation and is a jealous God, He cannot get enough praise from us regardless of how often we praise Him.
