The Spiritual Formation Series
Catch up with the whole series if you missed any episodes.
Formation as Praise (Part 7)
If spiritual formation is about entering more fully into reality and growing as the creatures God has made us to be, then praise is the fitting destination of that work. Praise teaches us to dethrone ourselves, to move our egos out of the center of our lives, and to re-center ourselves on God. So praise is formative. It is the thanks we give back to God, but the gratitude is recursive, bending back on us and shaping us also.
Sometimes praise rises from a quiet heart. Sometimes it rises from a desperate heart, against all odds. But sometimes, as in the rendition of Psalm 47 below, it runs over from a wellspring of joy and awe.
It booms out of us when God answers our needs, when he returns our prayers with resounding provision. In those moments, praise is not restrained. It is transformative. It rings the heart’s bell. It overflows. It overthrows, like “a trumpet blast at last.”
We do not live in that crescendo at every moment. But by the grace of God, we rise there on occasion. And when we do, the words of the rendition of Psalm 47 can help give us words that capture the experience of praise.
