God Inhabits The Praises Of His People

“But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.” (Psalm 22:3)

A note from Mike: My website, devotions.com, features over 600 devotions and over a year’s time, these 600 devotions are read almost 1 million times a year. This devotion is the #1 devotion on my website, and why not. Its message is eternal.

If you go to church with any regularity, you may have heard your music minister say, “God inhabits the praises of his people”. I always thought that statement was nothing more than a way to get me to sing the praise choruses that so many of our churches use now.

The truth is we should heed that advice. It’s not just that it’s scriptural. It’s one of God’s principles that work when we apply it.

Many of you probably did not know Roger Bennett. Roger Bennett was a Southern Gospel piano player and songwriter who made a living serving the Lord in the ministry of music. Unfortunately, he succumbed to cancer in 2007 after an 11-year battle.

The last several years were not particularly easy ones for Bennett. He had leukemia, which he thought was in remission, only to see it rage back in his life with vengeance. He fought it valiantly, but realized that the disease was winning, so he decided to take a stand and underwent a bone marrow transplant at the M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas – the first of three.

Bennett wrote about his experiences on his website, Roger Bennett’s Midnight Meditations. “I am convinced,” he told his readers, “that our enemy stalks us exactly in the way the Bible describes him, a roaring lion. He hides in the bushes waiting for any sign of weakness and then he strikes.”

Bennett admitted that his faith became weak in the loneliness that is associated with bone marrow transplants. He mentioned one particular night when he “bottomed out”.

“He didn’t strike me physically,” Bennett wrote. “That had been accomplished for him by the chemo. He struck a more critical part of my being – my joy, my confidence, my hope. Every thought I turned toward heaven bounced back to me as if it were made of brass. Every time I tried to ‘look on the bright side’, I ended up imaging a very dark future. Then he threw his most effective dart at me – Doubt. ‘You call yourself a Christian,’ he said. ‘What a hypocrite! You wrote, Don’t Be Afraid, and yet you are more afraid now than you’ve ever been. You wrote about joy and yet now you are filled with despair. So much for your faith, Mr. Gospel Singer.’”

Indeed, Bennett had hit rock bottom. “I believed everything Satan said,” he admitted. “I tried everything I knew to pull out of it – all to no avail. I thought if I could just doze off, this will pass by morning. But the clock seemed to move in slow motion. Sleep was nowhere near. I tried to lose myself in the Bible, but the words blurred to my eyes and I couldn’t make any sense of them.”

Finally, Bennett had an epiphany, a revelation of sorts. He thought about the story told in Acts when Paul and Silas were in jail. “They didn’t despair,” he said. “They sang…It became their weapon.”

So Bennett began singing. “One after another these old songs came to my memory and I sang them to my empty room. It wasn’t a great performance, but it may have been the most powerful blessing I’ve received in my life.”

Roger Bennett realized just how true God is to His Word. He really does inhabit the praises of his people.

When it begins to rain in your life, take Roger Bennett’s (and God’s) advice – Sing the Gospel and allow it take root in your heart. You may not sing your blues away, but I’ll bet you’ll feel the presence of a pretty powerful friend.

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6 Comments

  1. I am so grateful that the Holy Spirit brought me to this posting….I echo Rogers Word, the devil is constantly lurking….as I sit hear recovering from a hip fracture (waiting on the manifestation of God’s Word) it wasn’t until I began to praise God that the I felt so much better…. I mean physically better and I realized “There is power in my praise” God so desires to be right where we are if we would just stay in his presence….So I say AMEN-SING THE GOSPEL AND ALLOW IT TO TAKE ROOT IN YOUR HEART-you are sure to feel the presence of a pretty powerful friend. Thank you Mike & Roger-To God be the Glory!

  2. Amen, Amen, Amen. He has promised to never leave us or forsake us. As a hymn writer stated; He has taught me to say, “It is well, it is well with my soul.”

  3. Absolutely! I have staked my life on it. The more I praise Him, the closer I get to Him. Through grief and sorrow, He abides! Hallelujah! Tried, tested, and true!

  4. Hi Mike
    A good devotion!
    I had almost written praise is powerful, but should more accurately say, God is powerful and worthy and holy, hence praise. Praise is certainly scriptural, though I wouldn’t reduce praise to a principle that works when we apply it. Praise is for God alone, none of us have ever given anything to God so that he would have to repay us. To praise God as a formula to get something? Is this praise? To ‘get’ the presence of God? He already dwells within his children and has seated them in heavenly places in Christ.

    Perhaps thanking and praising Him for what he has already done and who he is etc… helps to open our eyes to see with a spirit of wisdom and knowledge so that the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe is released in us according to the resurrection and assention power God worked in Christ? Or praise keeps those with such wisdom knowledge and faith strong in the Spirit and truth? Do we praise God to get this??? I don’t think so, I want to praise God in order to praise God! Do you think Paul and Silas were praising God to get free? We praise God because he is worthy and to encourage and remind ourselves of his truth and his nature and so others can hear of the greatness of God. Deliverance release revelation and an awareness of God may result and often do result. Praise to God Hallelujah.

    Probably a more accurate translation would be Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One;
    you are the praise of Israel.(NIV)

    see http://www.zachicks.com/blog/2012/1/24/is-god-inhabits-the-praises-of-his-people-really-biblical.html
    For an honest look at it.

    Other links are
    http://beyondgrace.blogspot.com.au/2010/02/does-god-inhabit-our-praises-or-does-he.html
    and
    http://www.worshipmap.com/compassnf/cl-psalm22.html

  5. Indeed!
    It happened to me 15 years ago when I met a car accident. In real sense, it is inappropriate but the words that I shouted while heading down to a 60 feet deep ravine was “praise the Lord!!!”. Supposedly a major accident turned out to be a minor one, in the sense that I had only incurred minor bruises despite the damage to the car. I wonder what would be the situation or the scenario if instead of praise is curse comes out from my mouth. Praise the Name of the Lord of the Highest!