Joining Creation in Praise

Dannah Gresh: Here’s my dear friend, Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth.

Nancy Wolgemuth: This weekend we will be celebrating Palm Sunday. I want to take a moment to look at one of the gospel accounts of the triumphal entry into Jerusalem that we celebrate as Palm Sunday. I'm looking at John 12, beginning in verse 12:

The next day the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem.

Now, Jerusalem is in Judah, the kingly tribe. And Jerusalem is known as the city of the great king.

So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, "Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!" 

Dannah: Not everyone was happy at the praises of the people. Not everyone thought of Jesus as the King of Israel. There were some grumpy, cynical guys watching skeptically from the sidelines. We read about them in the Gospel of Luke.

Nancy: Chapter 19, the triumphal entry into Jerusalem, verse 37:

The whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, saying, "Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!"

You think the Pharisees might be a little bit happy on this happy occasion? Not a chance!

And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, rebuke your disciples."

I mean, they were ornery! They were not going to have a happy day no matter what happened if Jesus was around.

Dannah: How did Jesus respond to the ornery request? Did He rebuke His followers for praising Him like that? Let me read Luke 19, verse 40: "He answered, 'I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.'"

Isn’t that an interesting comment? Jesus was saying, “Someone or something is going to be praising me. If my followers don’t praise me, then the rocks will.”

Well, I sure hope the rocks don’t have to cry out today. As Wayne Watson sang—oh, way back in the nineties,

Song: "Almighty" by Wayne Watson

Let the rocks be kept silent for one more day;
Let the whole world sing out;
Let the people say: Almighty, most holy God.¹

Dannah: Or Babbie Mason sings about that same concept from Jesus’ words:

Song: "Keep the Rocks Silent" by Babbie Mason

I’m gonna keep the rocks silent one more day.
I’m gonna keep the rocks silent one more day.²

Dannah: Welcome to Revive Our Hearts Weekend here on the weekend of Palm Sunday. I’m your host, Dannah Gresh.

Today we’re going to do our best to keep the rocks from having to cry out in praise. 

Actually, I’m not sure that’s possible! Here’s what I mean. The Bible tells us in Psalm 19 that all of creation is already pouring forth praise. Think of something beautiful you’ve seen today.

A sunrise or a sunset? Maybe some spring bulbs pushing up through the soil? Or the stars last night. I flew home from the Dominican Republic, and well, Jesus and me, we had a moment as I was looking out of my plane window. The night was dark, the skies were clear, and those stars, they just seemed to be singing God’s praise my heart!

You know, I’m gonna just grab my Bible. Let me read that passage from Psalm 19. The opening verses say,

The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge . . . Their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. (vv. 2–4)

So the idea is that the skies are constantly speaking. All of creation, really, is one long stream of praise to the Creator. That sunset, the amazing images coming back from the Webb telescope–oh, I love seeing them, those tulips coming up, and the stars above you, they’re all proclaiming His greatness.

But did you know? There’s something special about the way you and I can praise the Lord. There’s a way the rest of creation can't praise Him. A rock can’t sing this:

Song: "Amazing Grace"

Amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.

That’s right. Redemption. Salvation. The ability to say, “I was rescued from sin. I was rescued from myself!” That’s a song even the angels can’t sing. Here’s Casting Crowns.

Song: "That The Angels Can't Sing" by Megan Garrett

I have a song that the angels can’t sing.
You saved my weary soul from all my sin and pain and suffering.
A song of the redeemed, I once was lost but You found me.
Oh, I have a song that the angels can’t sing.

I have a song that the angels can’t sing.
You stepped out of Your throne all wrapped in flesh
You made Yourself like me,
A song of righteousness I couldn’t reach 'til You reached me.
Oh, I have a song that the angels can’t sing.

Oh, glory hallelujah to the Lamb that was slain.
I cannot hold it in, You’ve given me a brand-new name
A song of my deliverance
You’ve broken all my chains and I am free.
Oh, I have a song the angels can’t sing.

I have a song that the angels can’t sing.
I was sentenced to a life in chains, o hope for being free.
You opened up the door and said, “Come on and follow Me.”
Now I have a song that the angels can’t sing.

Oh, glory hallelujah to the Lamb that was slain.
I cannot hold it in, You’ve given me a brand-new name,
A song of my deliverance
You’ve broken all my chains and I am free.
Oh, I have a song the angels can’t sing.

I have a song that the angels can’t sing.
It goes, “Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost but now I’m found
Was blind but now I see.”
Now I have a song that the angels can’t sing.
Oh, I have a song that the angels can’t sing.
Now I have a song that the angels can’t sing.

Oh, glory hallelujah to the Lamb that was slain.
I cannot hold it in, You’ve given me a brand-new name,
A song of my deliverance
You’ve broken all my chains and I am free.
Oh, I have a song the angels can’t sing.

Oh, I have a song the angels can’t sing.
Oh, I have a song the angels can’t sing.³

Dannah: Megan Garrett, there, with Casting Crowns, and “A Song That the Angels Can’t Sing.” 

Are your words and your life worshiping God for saving you?

You know, praise is powerful. Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth once talked about ways we can use our voices in giving praise to the Lord.

Nancy: Scripture talks first about speaking to the Lord and speaking to others about the Lord as a very important part of our praise.

I read recently, and this is actually what motivated me to do that (read through the book of Psalms) . . . I read one writer who said that for hundreds of years there were Christian servants of the Lord, back in the medieval period, who would read through the Psalms every week. They weren’t just reading the Psalms. They were praying the Psalms to the Lord every week. That’s 20-some—21 or so—Psalms every day. Praying those back to the Lord.

That thought challenged me. I don’t know that I’ll do it every week, but it was a great blessing this past week to read through the Psalms and to use them as an expression of praise and worship to the Lord—speaking to the Lord.

Then there are many references in the Psalms about speaking to others about the goodness and the praise of the Lord. Let me read some of those verses, and we’ll give you the references on the transcript on our website (ReviveOurHearts.com). You can get the actual references. But just listen and catch the heart of this.

The Psalmist says, “Come and hear, all you who fear God, and I will tell you what he has done for my soul” (Psalm 66:16). That’s praise. “My mouth will tell of your righteous acts, of your deeds of salvation all the day” (Psalm 71:15).

Then several verses from Psalm 145: “One generation shall commend your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts. They shall speak of the might of your awesome deeds, and I will declare your greatness. They shall speak of the glory of your kingdom and tell of your power. My mouth will speak the praise of the LORD, and let all flesh bless his holy name forever and ever” (verses 4, 6, 11, 21).

Speak it. Sing to the Lord. “Bless His name,” Psalm 96:2 says. “Tell of his salvation from day to day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples! For great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; he is to be feared above all gods. Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and beauty are in his sanctuary” (Psalm 96:2–4, 6).

Now, you and I speak tens of thousands of words every day. I know it doesn’t seem like that many, but it is. The question is what are you talking about? If we were to catalog all our words, how many of them are me talking about me? And how many of them are me talking about God?

I have to tell you I think I would be way off balance on that count. Why? Because I’m so consumed with myself. Because you know what really matters to me when it comes down to it? It’s the same thing that matters most of the time to you. It’s me. I mean, that’s what I really care about: my reputation, how things . . . how the weather affects me, how I’m feeling, how I’m doing, what I’m doing. We are self-centered self-worshipers.

When we become true worshipers of God, what we talk about will change. How much of the day are we talking about the goodness of God, the kindness of God, the mercies of God, the works of God, the salvation of God? If you and I were just expressing verbally to God and to others what God means to us, that would probably be our most effective witnessing tool because the people around us would realize God really matters to her. She loves Him. He’s done great things for her. He has saved her. And they would come to understand what that means if we were talking about the Lord, talking about what He has done.

Now, there’s a variation in the Scripture on speaking our praise to the Lord or to others about the Lord, and it’s this little phrase that I have to tell you I’m not real comfortable with. But it’s in there. I can’t escape it. The Scripture talks many times about shouting to the Lord. Shouting to the Lord. Now, I don’t know exactly why God makes this a part of praise. I know it’s not because God is hard of hearing. It’s not that when we praise louder, He hears us better.

But there’s something about that exuberant, celebrative, unrestrained, uninhibited shout to the Lord. Not trying to make a scene but, I have to tell you I’m not even sure I know how to do this. But I’m asking the Lord, “Teach me what it means to praise You in a way that is worthy of You.” I would rather talk with a soft voice, but there apparently are appropriate times and places to shout to the Lord.

Let me give you a little Hebrew lesson here that will give you an insight into this. Take verses in the Psalms that talk about shouting for joy to God all the earth. Sing aloud to God, our strength. Shout for joy. That word shout comes from a Hebrew word ruwa that means to split the ears with sound, to cry out with a loud voice. That’s what it means.

Now, there’s another word that is translated shout. “My lips will shout for joy, when I sing praises to you” (Psalm 71:23). It’s the word ranan. That word means to creak, to shout for joy. It’s a word that is often translated in English sing. “Sing praises to the LORD, O you his saints” (Psalm 30:4). Sing to the Lord. That is the Hebrew word ranan that means to creak. Now, that I can do. When it comes to singing, I can creak. My voice is kind of creaky. But it’s an expressive word. Shouting for joy. To split the ears with sound. To cry out with a loud voice.

You know, we do it in other circumstances, in situations where it’s considered appropriate, either a celebration or desperation at times. We know there are times and places where it’s appropriate to shout. Could I suggest that one of those is that there are times and places where it is appropriate to shout to the Lord? To be more celebrative and vocal in expressing His praise.

So the Psalmist says, “Shout for joy to God, all the earth; sing the glory of his name; give to him glorious praise! Say to God, ‘How awesome are your deeds! So great is your power that your enemies come cringing to you. All the earth worships you and sings praises to you; they sing praises to your name’” (Psalm 66:1–4).

Dannah: Amen! That’s Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth, encouraging us to use our voices and shout praises to the Lord. And this weekend we’re celebrating Jesus’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem, I want to do just that. Those people putting palm branches in the road— they were shouting their praises to God. They were saying “Hosanna!” which means, “Save us now!”

Song: "Shout Hosanna" by Kristian Stanfill and the Passion Band

Shout hosanna
Jesus, He saves.
Shout hosanna
He rose from the grave.
Come and lift Him up
Hosanna.

The same power that rolled the stone away,
The same power alive in us today.
King Jesus, we call upon Your name
No other name.

The same power that rolled the stone away,
The same power alive in us today.
King Jesus, we call upon Your name
No other name.

We shout hosanna
Jesus, he saves.
Shout hosanna
He rose from the grave.
Come and lift him up
Hosanna.

Shout hosanna
Jesus, He saves.
Shout hosanna
He rose from the grave.
Come and lift him up
Hosanna.

Come and lift him up
Hosanna.
Come and lift him up
Hosanna.
Come and lift him up
Hosanna.⁴

Dannah: Kristian Stanfill and the Passion Band there, with “Shout Hosanna!” here on Revive Our Hearts Weekend. We’ve been talking about praising God today. Jesus said that if His followers were silent in their praises, then the stones would cry out.

So how’s your heart? Are you excited to worship God for who He is and what He’s done for you? I hope so! 

But I also know from personal experience that sometimes we don’t feel like throwing a party for Jesus. Life can be hard. We’re pressured by the expectations of others, and we’re confronted by our own sins. 

If you’re there right now, can I encourage you to talk to yourself? You need to challenge yourself to get your eyes off of the opinions of others, get your eyes off of your circumstances, get your eyes off of yourself, and look to Jesus. 

Remember what we were saying earlier? If a sunset or a flower or a bird can pour forth praise to our great Creator, I think you and I can set aside our worries and focus our hearts and our words in praise to Him, too. Don’t you?

And here’s another amazing thing: praise isn’t about our feelings. It’s about saying what we know to be true, often in spite of how we’re feeling. Here’s Fernando Ortega.

Song: "I Will Praise Him" by Fernando Ortega

When the morning falls
On the farthest hill,
I will sing His name
I will praise Him still.

When dark trials come
And my heart is filled,
With the weight of doubt
I will praise Him still.

For the Lord our God
He is strong to save,
From the arms of death
From the deepest grave.
And He gave us life
In His perfect will,
And by His good grace
I will praise Him still.

When the morning falls
On the farthest hill,
I will sing His name
I will praise Him still.

When dark trials come
And my heart is filled,
With the weight of doubt
I will praise Him still.

For the Lord our God
He is strong to save,
From the arms of death
From the deepest grave.

For the Lord our God
He is strong to save,
From the arms of death
From the deepest grave.

And He gave us life
In His perfect will,
And by His good grace
I will praise Him still.

When the morning falls
On the farthest hill,
I will sing His name
I will praise Him still.⁵

Nancy: You see, praise is not a response to our circumstances. “Praise the Lord, I got a raise at work today! Praise the Lord, I found a parking spot in that terrible rain storm!”

Now, I will grant you that it’s a whole lot easier to praise the Lord if you got the raise or you got the parking spot; but it’s when you don’t get the raise, it’s when you don’t get the parking spot, it’s when your husband doesn’t get healed of that terminal illness and you’re left as a widow—that’s when praise is especially pleasing to God.

When dark trials come
And my heart is filled,
With the weight of doubt
I will praise Him still.

Dannah: I hope your heart is bursting with thankfulness, no matter what other emotions might be rattling around in there, too. And I hope you’re getting your heart ready to remember Jesus’s death on the cross. For you. For me. This coming Friday is Good Friday. Why not set aside some time every day this week to open God’s Word, and read chapter 53 of Isaiah or the crucifixion and resurrection accounts in each of the four gospels?

If you want some community while you get into the Word, Erin Davis, Portia Collins, and myself are going live every day with the Grounded videocast to just celebrate the work of Christ and His redemption in our lives this week. You can find us on the Revive Our Hearts YouTube channel or Revive Our Hearts Facebook page.

Just spend some time this week thinking about how you can praise Him in ways the rest of creation can’t. And then, do it. 

And if you find yourself in a time of suffering, I can’t recommend the devotional by Colleen Chao highly enough. She’s in the midst of intense physical suffering herself, but she’ll encourage you with her words. Her book is titled In the Hands of a Fiercely Tender God. We’ll send you a copy as our way of saying "thank you" for your donation of any amount in support of Revive Our Hearts. To make a donation, head to ReviveOurHearts.com, or call us at 1-800-569-5959. Ask about the devotional by Colleen Chao when you contact us with your gift.  

To hear more from Nancy on “The Power and Practice of Praise,” just go to ReviveOurHearts.com/weekend and click on today’s episode, called “Joining Creation in Praise.”

I hope this coming week leading up to Easter is a meaningful for you as you meditate on the grace and mercy of God and what Jesus did for us on the cross. Be sure to tune in to Revive Our Hearts throughout the week as Nancy will be taking us through the "Psalm of the Cross." We’ll look carefully at Psalm 22, a psalm that Jesus quoted from while He was being crucified.

Thanks for listening today. Join with creation, and fill your heart with praise! I’m Dannah Gresh. We’ll see you next time for Revive Our Hearts Weekend.

Revive Our Hearts Weekend is calling you to praise Him for your freedom, fullness, and fruitfulness in Christ.

¹ "Almighty," Wayne Watson, The Definitive Collection ℗ 2007 Word Entertainment LLC, A Curb Company.

² "Keep the Rocks Silent," Babbie Mason, Praise Celebration ℗ 1997 Word Entertainment LLC, A Curb Company.

³ "That the Angels Can’t Sing," Casting Crowns, ℗ 2016 Made To Thrive Music (BMI)/Provident Label Group LLC, a unit of Sony Music Entertainment.

⁴ "Shout Hosanna" (feat. Kristian Stanfill), Passion, Even So Come (Live) ℗ 2015 sixstepsrecords/Sparrow Records.

⁵ "I Will Praise Him, Still," Fernando Ortega, Hymns of Worship ℗ 2003 Word Entertainment, A Curb Company.

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