He appointed some of the Levites
to minister before the ark of the LORD,
to extol, thank, and praise the LORD,
the God of Israel.
I Chronicles 16:4 (NIV)
To extol, thank, and praise – a good description of prayer.
Thank and praise are both standard in our “Christian vocabulary” but extol feels more unfamiliar.
Perhaps other Bible translations offer some insight:
- NASB: celebrate
- NKJV: commemorate
- CEB: remember
The Ark represented the presence of God. And in God’s presence, certainly a suitable response is to extol, thank, and praise. Those things are worship – our appropriate response to Him.
In Old Testament times, proximity to the Ark (representing the presence of God) was an honor reserved for the Levites. This was a holy, sacred privilege. Others would worship God from a distance … but the Levites were permitted to extol, thank, and praise Him up close.
Because you and I live this side of the Cross, there is no distinction. Each believer has personal access to God because of the sacrifice made by Jesus. At his death, the curtain in the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom, and all of us can extol, thank, and praise God directly. We need not be a Levite to have this tremendous privilege.
We worship as an acknowledgment of who He is and what He has done. He reveals His glory to us. We see His fingerprints all around us. All creation bears testimony to his creativity, power, and love. God’s goodness and His greatness prompt us to give Him glory – to extol, thank, and praise Him. We do not add to His glory, but we react to what we witness. He reveals, we respond.
As children of God, we can join our voices with David in declaring,
“I will extol the LORD at all times,
His praise will ever be on my lips.”
Psalm 34:1
It’s easy for our prayer lives to become a mere recitation of, “Lord, do this, do that, help him, be with her…” Before we know it, we’ve allowed our prayers to spiral down to little more than a laundry list. Now is the time to change that.
During this season of giving thanks, let’s challenge one another to more giving to God – our thanks, our worship, our obedience – and less asking of Him. To HIM be the glory!
Nehemiah 9 records the longest prayer in the entire Bible – a rhythm of worship and confession, examining the history of God’s people and their interaction with Him. In this chapter, God’s goodness and greatness stands in sharp contrast to the sin and disobedience of His chosen people. We invite you to watch Friday’s teaching lecture, and then prayerfully make time to use the prayer from Nehemiah 9 as a template for your own.
