THE MAIN IDEA – We are saved to stand up and praise the Lord. Our passage gives us three reasons why we should stand up and praise the Lord.

STAND UP AND PRAISE THE LORD FOR HE IS WORTHY
We can see how God is worthy of our worship by the passion with which the Israelites worshiped God. In the seventh month, according to God’s word, they celebrated the Feast of Trumpets on the first day, the Day of Atonement on the tenth day, and the Feast of Tabernacles on the fifteenth day, which lasted for eight days. And then then entered a time of fasting, prayer, and worshiping on the twenty- fourth day, which the word of God said nothing about. They basically spent half the day worshiping God, and the Levites were crying out to God with loud voices. Praying with loud voices doesn’t really mean anything to God. He hears our whispers, and even the prayers of our hearts. But God wants us to desperately seek Him. And when we do so, crying out to Him with loud voices may be very natural. Crying out with loud voices may also draw us to desperately seek God. Anyway, to say that God is worthy of our worship means to worship Him with all our heart, soul, strength, and mind. Our passion for Christ, then, must be driven by our emotions or our logic or our will—with whatever we have.

STAND UP AND PRAISE THE LORD FOR HE IS GOD
We can also know the worthiness of God simply because of who He is. God is God, and we are not. He is unique, and there is no other. That in itself makes God worthy of all glory, honor, and praise. There are no words that can adequately describe how great and glorious God is, yet we are called to give it our best shot. Like the prayer in verses 5-38, every proper prayer begins with the exaltation of God, acknowledging who He is, acknowledging His goodness and greatness, and acknowledging Him with reverence and awe. The prayer continues declaring a most important truth that God is the Creator of the universe and gives life to all living beings. There are at least three implications of this truth: (1) In this world that God created, God makes the rules, and so God knows what is best for us (and even revealed it to us). (2) God makes no mistakes, especially with regard to every soul that God conceives. And (3) God has a plan for His creation, especially for His people.

STAND UP AND PRAISE THE LORD FOR HE IS FAITHFUL
In this prayer of the Levites , the emphasis is on what God has done for the Israelites throughout their history, called salvation history. The climax of salvation history is the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We the church become a part of salvation history through faith, and at the same time, salvation history continues to unfold through us. One of the key reasons for retelling salvation history is to remind us of the faithfulness of God, as it says at the end of verse 8, “You have kept Your promise because You are righteous.” God is faithful. So God is the One who acts to unfold and to fulfill salvation history until He brings human history to a close when Jesus returns. In salvation history, God is faithful to transform us to become a people of faith and faithfulness. In salvation history, God is faithful to transport us from the kingdom of the world into the kingdom of God. God’s faithfulness is assured throughout all of Scripture (Romans 8:28-39; Galatians 5:22-23; 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24; etc.).

Discussion: How are you more inclined to experience God—through your emotions, through your logic, or through your will? Can you describe a meaningful worship experience for you?