Psalm 145:1-2
I will extol thee, my God, O king; and I will bless thy name for ever and ever.  Every day will I bless thee; and I will praise thy name for ever and ever.

Why is praise to be such a constant in our lives?  Why was David so dedicated to praise in his life?  What makes praise so important?  First of all, it honors God, and He deserves to be honored.  He is worthy of praise, and if He is worthy of praise at all, He is worthy of continual praise.  Everything about Him is praiseworthy—His goodness, His grace, His love, His mercy, His power, His righteousness, His truth.  Everything He is and everything He does warrants praise from us, so it must be a choice we make, a freewill offering that springs forth from our recognition and understanding of His greatness and glory and splendor.

And praising Him every day gives us a recognition of the many ways He works in our lives and the many blessings He gives to us.  It keeps our focus on Him.  So many things in our lives can overcome and weigh us down, but singing praises to God blesses us, too, because we remember who He is and what He can do and then those other circumstances don’t matter so much.  Taking time to praise Him reconnects us to Him and gives us a different perspective.  An attitude of thankfulness helps us to see what we do have instead of focusing too much on what we don’t.

Praise is important because it is what we were created to do.  God is honored and glorified, and we are fulfilled when we fulfill our purpose.  It is something we do here now, and it is something that awaits us in our future.  That coming day when we go to be with Him, our praise will still be a continual thing that we offer to the King of kings and Lord of lords.  So many times we wonder what we can do for God, and praise is one of the most basic things we give to Him in every part of our lives.

David knew he was nothing without God.  He knew how much he needed God.  And he recognized God’s hand upon his life.  It built up love for God in his heart.  It drew those psalms from the depths of his soul, those songs from his lips, those praises as a continual offering to his Lord.  And because our God warrants eternal praise, let us make it a part of our life and a part of each day as we, too, seek to bless the name of our great God forever and ever.