Pastor Bell's Words To Live By

Today I want to give thanks to God for all that he has done in the past, all that he is doing now and all the he will do in the future. Furthermore I must remind myself that with God there is no past, present or future. God is outside of my time zone and that is why he is described by the psalmist as ‘from everlasting to everlasting’. Not only is God omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient, that is he is all powerful, he is everywhere and is all knowing, he acts when his people praise him. So how do we praise him and are there different levels of praise? This leads me to a common misconception that I hear repeated all the time. There are those who perpetuate the myth that ‘Hallelujah’ is the highest praise. I say myth because as we shall see Hallelujah is a word which tries to encapsulate the gratitude of those whom God has redeemed from the clutches of the enemy. It is a Hebrew word comprising  Hellel’ which means praise and Yah which is short for Yahweh. It is defined as ‘an exclamation to God of joy, praise and gratitude.’  It was developed by the ancient Hebrews who were instructed to keep the Passover on their exit from Egypt and the oppressive system of Pharaoh. When the Passover is being celebrated even today, four cups of wine are used to celebrate and praise God for what he has done, namely;

1. The Cup of Sanctification – based on God’s statement, “I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians”

2.The Cup of Judgment or Deliverance- based on God’s statement, “I will deliver you
from slavery to them”

3.The Cup of Redemption – based on God’s statement, “I will redeem you with an
outstretched arm”

4.The Cup of Praise or Restoration – based on God’s statement, “I will take you to
be my people, and I will be your God”

The last cup was the Hallel cup which was overflowing with wine. From where we get our term, my cup is full and overflowing. And so this represents the  gratitude of the people for what God continues to do. Hallelujah is an exclamation of praise to God, similar to ‘thank you’ in English or Gratis in Latin which when translated in English means free of charge.  We can praise God in many ways some with words and many without words.  The Psalmist encourages this when he says, praise him with the tambourines, the harp all sorts of musical instruments, dance and so on. We praise him in our actions by helping an old lady across the street. In essence we praise God by being like Jesus i.e. doing what pleases him. There is no gradation in praise. There is no high or low praise, praise is praise. Just like God is God. So today you can praise God silently, quietly or with a loud noise, it is all the same to him, Hallelujah! Read Psalm 150