Another Example of How to Praise God in Prayer (Exod 15.1-18) ‣ Praying Through the Bible
I will sing to the LORD, for he has triumphed gloriously;
horse and rider he has thrown into the sea.The LORD is my strength and my might,
and he has become my salvation;
this is my God, and I will praise him,
my father’s God, and I will exalt him.The LORD is a warrior;
the LORD is his name.Pharaoh’s chariots and his army he cast into the sea;
his picked officers were sunk in the Red Sea.The floods covered them;
they went down into the depths like a stone.Your right hand, O LORD, glorious in power—
your right hand, O LORD, shattered the enemy.In the greatness of your majesty, you overthrew
your adversaries;
you sent out your fury, it consumed them like stubble.At the blast of your nostrils, the waters piled up,
the floods stood up in a heap;
the deeps congealed in the heart of the sea.The enemy said, ‘I will pursue, I will overtake,
I will divide the spoil, my desire shall have its
fill of them.
I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy
them.’You blew with your wind, the sea covered them;
they sank like lead in the mighty waters.
“Who is like you, O LORD, among the gods?Who is like you, majestic in holiness,
awesome in splendor, doing wonders?
You stretched out your right hand,
the earth swallowed them.In your steadfast love you led the people whom you redeemed;
you guided them by your strength to your holy abode.The peoples heard, they trembled;
pangs seized the inhabitants of Philistia.Then the chiefs of Edom were dismayed;
trembling seized the leaders of Moab;
all the inhabitants of Canaan melted away.Terror and dread fell upon them;
by the might of your arm, they became still as a stone
until your people, O LORD, passed by,
until the people whom you acquired passed by.You brought them in and planted them on the
mountain of your own possession,
the place, O LORD, that you made your abode,
the sanctuary, O LORD, that your hands have established.The LORD will reign forever and ever.”
In these studies, I have drawn a distinction between prayers of praise and prayers of thanksgiving, though they are similar. It might even be difficult to tell them apart at times because some prayers contain both. As described in the Introduction, we offer prayers of thanksgiving as a prayer that thanks God for some act or acts. Just you might thank someone for answering a request, or helping you, or giving you a gift, so we are grateful to God for things he does.
A prayer of praise, on the other hand, praises God for who He is. Its focus is on God’s character. We praise Him for His power, for his magnificent acts of creation, for His past acts of salvation, or for being the kind of God who forgives. We might say to a friend, “you are really good at listening,” or to a parent, “I love the way you take care of me,” or to a co-worker, “you have wonderful speaking skills.” Just as we might offer a word of praise to someone as a general comment on their person or character, we do the same to God.
You can see why categorizing these prayers might be difficult: how is praising God for creation different from thanking him for it? How is thanking him for past acts of salvation different from thanking him for them? The difference is in the focus (and perhaps timeframe). I offer a prayer of thanksgiving because he saved me; I would offer praise to him because He is the kind of God who saves people. Subtle, perhaps, but the distinction can help us think through what we are praying and give us more richness and clarity in our prayers.
