Praise for God

1 Kings 8

Praise for God

“And he said, Lord God of Israel, there is no God like thee, in heaven above, or on earth beneath, who keepest covenant and mercy with thy servants that walk before thee with all their heart.” (1 Kings 8:23)

This verse begins the prayer of Solomon at the dedication of the new Temple. Wisely, Solomon begins his prayer with praise for God. If we want a successful prayer life and want to pray wisely, we will begin our prayers with praise for God (which includes thanksgiving to God). We will not get anywhere in our praying if our prayers do not honor God.

This verse on praise for God, speaks about the character of God, the covenant of God, and the condition from God.

Character of God. “There is no God like thee, in heaven above, or on earth beneath.” All the idol gods of that day are put down by this statement. Israel’s God is above all. Man has a tendency to exalt himself above all including God. Heathen kings habitually declared themselves divine, and they capitalized on an ignorant citizenry who went along with the claims of divinity. But they were not superior over all. Jehovah God, the God Almighty, is over all. We need to live that truth by submitting to His commands.

Covenant of God. “Who keepest covenant and mercy with thy servants.” This speaks of the faithfulness of God. He keeps His word. He is not like the nations who break their treaties frequently. You can trust God’s Word. It will not fail. Men may fail in their word, but God’s Word will never fail.

Condition from God. “Servants that walk before thee with all their heart.” It is to the praise of God that He is not satisfied with inferior performances and thus demands “all” your heart as a condition of blessing. He wants total commitment and total loyalty. He wants our best. He withholds many blessings because we do not give our best. We want God to always give His best but seldom do we give God our best. We want God to always respond earnestly to our prayers, but we seldom respond to His precepts earnestly. When things go wrong, men like to blame God’s performance; but the problem is always man’s performance.

Daily Bible Reading: Sermonettes #1.