When do you praise God?  Is it only when life is treating you the way you think it should?  It is easy to praise God when everything seems to be going our way, but what about when we hit a rough patch on the road of life?  Shouldn’t we praise God even during difficult times?  David was determined to praise God no matter what was going on in his life.  

Psalm 145:1-2 (ESV)
¹  I will extol you, my God and King, and bless your name forever and ever. ²  Every day I will bless you and praise your name forever and ever.

To extol means to exalt by praise and honor.  To bless in this text means to kneel out of respect, and to praise means to shine forth or make a show by raving about someone.  All of these terms that David used point to giving God the respect and reverence He deserves in word and deed, and David determined to do that every day and forever and ever.

This should be our determination as well.  Why did David have such a determination to praise God?  He tells us—“Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and His greatness is unsearchable.”  God has not changed.  His greatness is still unsearchable.  Paul said that God can do more than we ask or think.  What should our response be to the greatness of God?  Paul said, “To Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generation, forever and ever (Ephesians 3:20-21).  In other words, we should praise God every day.

The greatness of God does not diminish just because we are having a bad day.  God, like His Son, Jesus, is the same yesterday and today and forever (Hebrews 13:8).  I know we know this.  Let’s act like it.  Paul and Silas did.

In Acts 16, Paul and Silas found themselves in jail at Philippi.  They were arrested, beaten, and thrown into an inner prison or dungeon, and had their feet fastened in stocks, all without being found guilty of any crime.  I would say that Paul and Silas were having a bad day.  How did they respond? 

Acts 16:25 (ESV)
²⁵  About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them,

Their mistreatment did not cause them to murmur against God, but instead, they praised Him in song.  Like David before them, Paul and Silas determined to praise God every day, regardless of the circumstances of their lives.

Let me ask again, when do you praise God?  Do you only praise Him when life is great?  If so, you are probably praising Him for the wrong reason.  This reminds me of the time when Jesus fed over five thousand hungry followers.  He later told them, “Ye seek me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled” (John 6:26).  Sure enough, when Jesus began saying things they did not like, they stopped following Him because they were following Him for the wrong reason in the first place.

If we really love the Lord and believe that God is all-powerful and supreme in every way, we will praise Him every day regardless of the circumstances of our lives.

As you wind down for the night, think about these things.