The Song of Praise is an ancient hymn with divine origins. It is commonly known by it’s Latin name, Gloria in excelsis Deo. Luther commented, It did not grow, nor was it made, but it came from heaven. The song of praise is a quote from the the Gospel of Luke 2:14 Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace good will on whom his favor rests.
I want to ask you if you always feel like praising God? In my life I have had some bad days. The first thought in the middle of my self-pity wasn’t praising God. Let’s go to someone who knows a thing or two about having a bad day. That would be Job. In chapter 3 of his book he talks about the suffering he endured. What I feared has come upon me; what I dreaded has happened to me. 26 I have no peace, no quietness; I have no rest, but only turmoil. Job had lost all of his children, most of his business, and his wife was giving him the advice to curse his God. We don’t need to make this a contest as to who is the most miserable, but Job has the street cred to talk about suffering.
Job offered an incredible confession on the truth of the resurrection. AND Job is some of the oldest writing, anywhere. The point of Job is that he had a bad day, but his God didn’t forsake him. The temptation would be to say that Job didn’t give up on God, but the truth is maybe somedays he felt that way. Life isn’t a steady string of events that leads to praise. There is some intense heartache that you will experience in this veil of tears. The love of our God transcends the misery of this world. God keeps us close and safe, never breaking his promises. When the Christian realized how great that love is, he needs to raise a song of praise!
Want to hear more – including a discussion of the church year? Watch this week’s lesson – Song of Praise from our study, Worship Windows.
Please click HERE for the Bible class slides.
Please click HERE for the other lessons from our series Worship Windows.