One of the elementary truths of physics is Sir Isaac Newton’s Law of Gravitation, which simply states: “The force of attraction between any two masses in the universe is directly proportional to the product of the masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between their centers of mass,” or E=MC2.

This scientific equation is parallel to an elementary truth of faith, something I like to call the law of spiritual gravity. Simply put, it declares: “When praises go up, blessings come down, or B=P2.”

It is not my intent to be facetious, though the concept is quaint. Spiritual gravity -- in essence, earthly praises to God -- causes heavenly blessings to fall from God. That sounds like the law of divine relativity. That’s another column for another day.

It seems that God gets quite a kick out of praise. The longest book of the Bible, Psalm (“Praises”) is dedicated to just that. In the Psalms, King David declared, “I will bless the Lord at all times: His praise shall continually be in my mouth,” (Ps. 34:1). Obviously, praise is not a part-time job we employ only when things are going our way.

Praise is the mortal response to God’s supernatural revelation of himself. From the Latin tongue, praise means “value,” or “price.” In our praise of God, we express his value and worth to us. A songwriter has declared, “From the rising of the sun until the going down of the same, Jesus, blessed Savior, is worthy to be praised.”

There are multitudes of ways to render praise unto God. You can sing… “Sing praises to the Lord, which dwelleth in Zion: declare among the people His doing,” (Ps. 9:11). If you can’t carry a note, why not try dancing? That’s what Moses’ older sister, Miriam, did when God parted the Red Sea and Israel crossed on dry land (Ex. 15:20). So did David when the ark of the Lord was brought into Jerusalem (II Sam. 6:14), but please try to keep your clothes on!

How about with instruments? Psalm 150 instructs us to praise God with trumpets, psaltery, harp, timbrel, stringed instrument, organs, loud cymbals and high sounding cymbals. In fact, everything that has breath (the whole band) is to praise the Lord. Maybe you can shout? That’s what Joshua told the children of Israel to do and the walls of Jericho came tumbling down (Jos. 6:20).

Praise seems to have a three-dimensional effect. Through praise, God is glorified, man is edified and Satan is horrified. Peter observed this when he wrote to the early church, “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light,” (I Pet. 2:9).

Praise is our invitation to God. It is our gift to Him. God actually enjoys our praise and he inhabits it. You know, he kind of pulls up a front row seat and inclines his holy ear to us.

Because of your praise, God is moved to bless you; to “barak” you; to expand your territory and to show divine favor upon your life; to add your increase; and to elevate you from faith to faith and from glory to glory.

When you find yourself in the midst of life’s storms and still the fruit of your lips is the “sacrifice of praise,” then the law of spiritual gravity goes into effect. A fellow by the name of Job will attest to that. He will tell you that your blessing is on the other side of whatever you are going through.

Job lost all he had to the point of terminal illness. On his bed of affliction he told three so-called friends, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him…All the days of my appointed time will I wait ‘til my change comes.”

Before it was all over God restored Job two times that which he previously lost. That’s double for your trouble. That’s worth a “hallelujah” and a “thank you Jesus.”
***
The Rev. George B. Jackson, D. Min., is president of the United Cornerstone School of Divinity in Thomasville.
 

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