Praise
God, from whom all blessings flow;
Praise
Him, all creatures here below;
Praise
Him above, ye heavenly host;
Praise
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.
Many of my readers are familiar with this ancient
doxology or praise of God. Did you know that there are many doxologies in the Bible?
Perhaps the most read or recited one in the Aaronic Prayer in Numbers 6:24, “The Lord bless you and keep you
The Lord make His face
shine upon you
And be gracious to you.
The Lord lift up His
countenance upon you,
And give you peace.” (Numbers
6:24-25)
This blessing from Aaron, the first high priest,
seems quite personal in how God watches over us. It was said in preparation for
worship. It seems to build in crescendo to a very personal offering of peace to
everyone. This peace is brought by the light of the face of God Himself shining
upon us. What an incredible image filled with a personal God’s shepherd-like
interest in caring for each of us. I am most affected by the image of God’s
light. This is a topic of Scripture throughout. John particularly says, “God is light and in Him there is not
darkness at all” (I John 1:5). He goes on to say that we are to walk in
the light as He is in the light and have fellowship with one another and God
cleanses us of all sin through His blood or death. Light is healing and makes
all things new visible. It brings life. In the Message paraphrase it
speaks of God’s gift to prosper us. Yes, I believe that it is a gift of God,
the peace that is beyond all of our understanding.
One other doxology that I find very moving is in
Jude 24-25.
“Now
to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling (falling), and to make you stand
in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior,
through Jesus Christ our Lord, be
glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever.
Amen.”
This
doxology praises God for His preserving us until we stand before Him at His
throne in heaven. It says that we will
not fall or stumble in a way that will keep us from Him. We may be crushed or
persecuted but not destroyed as 2 Corinthians 4:7-10 tells us. Like the soaring
language of Isaiah 6, God is lifted up in His glory, dominion, majesty and
authority forever. God is in the praises of His people Psalm 22 tells us.
That’s why we praise Him, because He first loved us we can love one another
with the love He has given to us.
These
doxologies are often sung like the psalms, which are hymns. David, “the sweet
musician of Israel” sang all of the psalms. Jesus, on the night He was
betrayed, sang psalms in the upper room with His disciples. There were the
psalms of praise. The “Psalms of Ascent,” psalms 120-134 were sung by pilgrims
on the way to the temple in Jerusalem to worship. Each formed a doxology-like
praise to God.
I have
chosen these two doxologies near the beginning of the Old Testament and just
before the Revelation or revealing of at the end of the New Testament to speak
of a theology of the eternal presence in God. God is always with us, Immanuel.
The triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit has always existed and created. He
has given us the Word of God, the Bible to tell us what we need to know of Him.
This word is made alive or illuminated by the Holy Spirit. The Gospel of John begins by telling us, “In
the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God.” It is written that we might better know the
God of the universe more intimately. It is why we can sin a new song, because
God puts it in our mouths, a song of praise. Perhaps you are hurting today. Try
singing a doxology, maybe one that you write.
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Thanks for sharing your thoughts.