David Bahn – Reflections

O LORD, rebuke me not in your anger,
    nor discipline me in your wrath.
² Be gracious to me, O LORD, for I am languishing;
    heal me, O LORD, for my bones are troubled.
³ My soul also is greatly troubled.
    But you, O LORD—how long?

⁴ Turn, O LORD, deliver my life;
    save me for the sake of your steadfast love.
⁵ For in death there is no remembrance of you;
    in Sheol who will give you praise?

⁶ I am weary with my moaning;
    every night I flood my bed with tears;
    I drench my couch with my weeping.
⁷ My eye wastes away because of grief;
    it grows weak because of all my foes.

⁸ Depart from me, all you workers of evil,
    for the LORD has heard the sound of my weeping.
⁹ The LORD has heard my plea;
    the LORD accepts my prayer.
¹⁰ All my enemies shall be ashamed and greatly troubled;
    they shall turn back and be put to shame in a moment.

Yay God! I suppose that might be considered by some to be irreverent. I certainly don’t intend to be disrespectful when I use that phrase. My intent is to be genuine and make the idea accessible outside of the confines of formal worship. I use it when the choir has sung an excellent anthem, or when we’re recognizing a new group of members, or confirmands: “Let’s give a big ‘Yay God’ for these people.” The intent is to give honor where honor is due. Thanks be to God. Praise the Lord! Hallelujah! These all express that idea more formally.

Beyond formality, however, is the significance of offering praise to God. That is the supernatural response by God’s people when we see that he has done wonderful things. We can say our thank yous to those who deliver blessings to us: An act of kindness. A generous gift. A welcome embrace. A complement. It is good and right to thank people who have blessed us. Behind all those acts of kindness, grace, and love stands the God who inspires them.

“It is truly good, right, and salutary that we should at all times and in all places give thanks to You, O Lord, holy Father, almighty and everlasting God…” we say in the communion liturgy at the Proper Preface, before Holy Communion. At all times and in all places it is right to praise God. Yay God is appropriate at any time.

Why all times and all places? Because God is always good. His steadfast love endures forever. This is the refrain of many psalms: “Oh give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; for His steadfast love endures forever!” (Psalm 106:1, Psalm 107:1, Psalm 118:1, Psalm 136:1).

This is a fitting conclusion to our psalm of lament. It’s the metamessage of verse 9: “The LORD has heard my plea; the LORD accepts my prayer.” Or as Psalm 50:15 says, “Call on me in the day of trouble. I will deliver you and you will glorify me.

Praise honors God – always appropriate. Praise puts our problems in perspective; they cannot separate us from God. Praise puts us in our proper place; we are not in charge. Praise sends the devil fleeing. Praise is always proper – especially at the end of our lamentations.

Yay God!