Psalm 22:23-24
(ESV)
23 You who fear the Lord, praise him!
All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him,
and stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel!
24 For he has not despised or abhorred
the affliction of the afflicted,
and he has not hidden his face from him,
but has heard, when he cried to him.
David is telling God’s people to praise, glorify, and stand in awe of him. All these are action words. These are actions we need to take as believers. We need to praise God, not because it changes our hearts and minds. It changes our focus back to God and who he is so we can properly glorify him.
1 Corinthians 10:31
(ESV)
31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
When we have a life of praise. It’s a life of humility (because we are aware that all we have is from God and who he is) and gratitude. These are heart postures God values greatly and cherishes. When we are grateful and are in praise of God, we can properly stand in awe of him. When we are ungrateful or bitter, we aren’t in awe of God, but we are focused on our situation and pain. Our eyes are seeing the mess and aren’t in tune with the God we serve. When we praise despite hardship and glorify him with our actions, we can properly stand in awe of the greatness of our God.
In verse 24, David gives us a reason why we should do this. God has not despised those who are abhorred and the affliction of the afflicted, nor he has hidden his face from those who cry them. The most powerful reason is that he hears us when we cry out to him. God hears and sees our pain, he sees all we go through, the confusion and hardship but this should make us grow bitter, ungrateful and in depression but rather it should make us do the 3 key things we see at the beginning
1) PRAISE HIM
2) GLORIFY HIM
3) STAND IN AWE OF Him (or as in other translations, Have the fear of the Lord)
-etty