Public Prayer of Praise

1 Chronicles 29:10-20 

    10 Therefore David blessed the LORD before all the assembly; and David said:

"Blessed are You, LORD God of Israel, our Father, forever and ever.

11 Yours, O LORD, is the greatness,
The power and the glory,
The victory and the majesty;
For all that is in heaven and in earth is Yours;
Yours is the kingdom, O LORD,
And You are exalted as head over all.

12 Both riches and honor come from You,
And You reign over all.
In Your hand is power and might;
In Your hand it is to make great
And to give strength to all.

13 "Now therefore, our God,
We thank You
And praise Your glorious name.

14 But who am I, and who are my people,
That we should be able to offer so willingly as this?
For all things come from You,
And of Your own we have given You.

15 For we are aliens and pilgrims before You,
As were all our fathers;
Our days on earth are as a shadow,
And without hope.

    16 "O LORD our God, all this abundance that we have prepared to build You a house for Your holy name is from Your hand, and is all Your own. 17 I know also, my God, that You test the heart and have pleasure in uprightness. As for me, in the uprightness of my heart I have willingly offered all these things; and now with joy I have seen Your people, who are present here to offer willingly to You. 18 O LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, our fathers, keep this forever in the intent of the thoughts of the heart of Your people, and fix their heart toward You. 19 And give my son Solomon a loyal heart to keep Your commandments and Your testimonies and Your statutes, to do all these things, and to build the temple for which I have made provision."
    20 Then David said to all the assembly, "Now bless the LORD your God." So all the assembly blessed the LORD God of their fathers, and bowed their heads and prostrated themselves before the LORD and the king.

King David gave a public prayer of praise for all the LORD had done for him and his people, and for the abundance of grace showered by Him on them all.  He began by acknowledging that God is their eternal Father, for the Jews absolutely knew Him as such, even of some now say they did not.  This is the revelation of scripture which records how they did know Him as Father, even though they did not comprehend Him as the eternal Son who is God’s Word yet.  This was hidden from them until the right time chosen by God as Galatians 4:4 tells us.  The praise continues by ascribing all the grandeur, power, glory, victory, majesty, and sovereign ownership of all to the LORD who is their and our God.  Because of who He is and all He proves as He demonstrates by action, He rules the universe and all He created in it, including people and nations.  The kingdom is the LORD’s, not ours!  He is exalted or lifted up in praise because He is worthy and in charge as the potentate (1 Timothy 6:15), the Lord and head of us of all (Colossians 1:18).  Everything we possess comes from His hand of grace, whether riches, honor, or strength.  He must be praised in humility for His rule and mighty hand (1 Peter 5:6) over us all and over world events and politics.  Because of His absolute rule of goodness and grace, we must respond with praise and thankfulness, lifting up His name above all else, for we have no other gods but God above.  This should make us think and pray as David here, dumbfounded that He should allow us to offer back what we can of all coming from His hand which He gives us!  Apart from Christ and the grace of reconciliation by atonement in His sacrifice of the blood of His life in place of ours, we are absolutely hopeless and lost.  But He brings us near who once were aliens from God’s chosen people (Ephesians 2:12), but now brought near and having such a solid and eternal hope in the Son of righteousness who has arisen in our souls and moved us to praise Him.  David prepared his son Solomon to build God a house; God’s own Son now builds an eternal house of worship in we His people.  Let us then follow the example by returning upright hearts of willingly obedience and fix them on the author and finisher of our faith.  Let us bow down and bless His holy name for our deliverance from hopeless darkness and translation into the light (1 Peter 2:9-10, Acts 26:18, Colossians 1:13)!  This should be our public prayer of praise.