The Advantages of Offering Praise Often and Early

Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!
Early in the morning our song shall rise to Thee;
Holy, holy, holy, merciful and mighty!
God in three Persons, blessed Trinity!

Holy, Holy, Holy
By: Reginald Heber 1783–1826

Listen to this simple piano version as you read. Please make certain to enjoy the podcast below.

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Transcript may be found below, at the end of the blog.

We begin our journey through another great hymn this week.  In the first half of this stanza, we remind ourselves of Who God is and commit to come early and often to give Him praise . Let’s tune our hearts.

Holy God

Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!

Holiness.

This entire hymn, one of the most well-known of all time, focuses almost exclusively on this transcendent quality of God with each stanza turning the prism as it were to reflect a little different perspective on this other-worldly character.

Holiness is one of the most difficult attributes of God for us to comprehend.  Why?  Because it is so different from us.

This is very clear in Isaiah 6 where the prophet describes the throne room of God, and then goes on to offer his response.  “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”  Isaiah 6:5  When confronted with the holiness of God, Isaiah realized he was lost or undone.

Holiness indicates that something is whole, or integrated.  God is holy, or wholly integrated.  There is nothing incomplete or fragmented in Him.

Not so with us.  We are undone, or disintegrated.  Isaiah says lost here, but it is also translated undone.  He was in pieces, acknowledging that the completeness of God had revealed to him how fragmented his life was.

When we are confronted with the holiness of God, we will respond the same way.  If we want to develop our sense of His holiness we must join the song of the four living creatures who never cease to declare it.  The Scriptures tell us they are full of eyes, which tells me they fully see the perfection of our Lord.  We must take time to reflect on this aspect of His character because like them, it draws us to Him, consumed with a desire to be integrated as He is.

And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!” Revelation 4:8 ESV

How will you respond to their eternal song?  Day and night they never cease to say…”Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty…”  Will you join them?  With you lips and with your life will you sing and live to make known the holiness of God?  Why not start now?

Worthy of Praise, Eternal and Early

Early in the morning our song shall rise to Thee;

The best way to fill your day with praise is to start your day with it.

When you set the tone for the day by allowing the holiness of God to inform your perspective, the likelihood of you keeping that focus is greatly increased.  Seems pretty simple right?  Then why don’t we do it?!?

There is certainly not one simple answer, but I think a key factor is intentionality.  What the four living creatures have over us, besides being covering with eyes, is that they are eternally in the very throne room of God, continually confronted with the awesome reality of who He is.  Because of this obvious disadvantage on our part, we must make a choice to set on minds and hearts on things above early in the day.

How do we do that?  By saying, “I will.”  Consider the Psalmist.  They were not in the throne room either, but had the wilderness tabernacle and Solomon’s temple to inspire them.  Like them, we need to draw some inspiration from the attributes of God, and commit to respond.

“But I will sing of your strength; I will sing aloud of your steadfast love in the morning.” Psalm 59:16a ESV

Whether it is His strength, His steadfast love, or any other of His many praise-worthy attributes, think on one or more and determine to give Him praise!  And do so early in your day.  It will help you set the tone for a life of resonant praise.

Did you start your day with praise?  Whether it was a song you listened to or simply sang from your heart, did it help to center you in the reality of God?  If you did not, then start right now.  If you did not watch the podcast above already scroll back up and do it now.  It will give you the opportunity to sing these lyrics as an offering to God, and set the tone for the rest of your day.  Then tomorrow, start early!

Jesus, thank You for revealing the holiness of God to me.  As I wake up each morning, stir my heart to offer You the praise which You alone are worthy to receive.  If I forget, remind me early and often, and help me make it a habit.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen!

Early Tuning!

Keep coming back, and we will work to help you remove the things that may hinder your longing for His return by cultivating an awareness of God’s presence.   We will help you tune your heart to live out your worship by providing resources like this to help you acknowledge the greatness of God as you become more Resonant, 7 days a week.

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Video 14.1 Transcript

Welcome to Tuesday Tunings at Resonant 7, where we reflect on the reality of God and resolve to let it resound in our lives, repeatedly. Let’s tune our hearts.

Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!
Early in the morning our song shall rise to Thee;
Holy, holy, holy, merciful and mighty!
God in three Persons, blessed Trinity!

The four living creatures from Revelation 4:8 never cease to declare this.  The next phrase of their eternal refrain says, “who was and is and is to come.”  A timeless God deserves timeless praise. Ask Him to pull back the heavenly veil and reveal His powerful presence to you today.

Our response to God revealing Himself to us is to commit to fill our days with an earthly echo of the throneroom worship.  Will you commit to start your day with a song of praise to your God? Not sure what to sing? Just sing this.

Our completely holy God blends mercy and might together perfectly.  Isaiah grasped His wholeness or integration and confessed his own disintegration in light of it.  Our right response must likewise mingle friendship and fear. Praise Him for access and awe!

We worship the three-in-one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Though the word Trinity is found nowhere in Scripture, the reality of these three distinct persons who are each God and all God is consistently proclaimed.  Thank Him for revealing Himself to You.

Take a few moments to talk to Jesus about what has surfaced in your heart, or just listen to what He is saying to you, then we will sing once more.

Sing

Take the awareness of God’s presence cultivated in these last few minutes into the next ones and beyond.  Until next time, be Resonant.

The post The Advantages of Offering Praise Often and Early appeared first on Resonant 7.

Image Attributions
Revelation – https://pixabay.com/photos/revelation-bible-religion-god-holy-981662/
Early Praise – https://pixabay.com/photos/woman-happiness-sunrise-silhouette-570883/