May the peoples praise you, O God; may all the peoples praise
you. May the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you rule the
peoples justly and guide the nations of the earth. May the
peoples praise you, O God; may all the peoples praise you. Then
the land will yield its harvest, and God, our God, will bless us.
God will bless us, and all the ends of the earth will fear him.
—Psalm 67:3–7
What happens when the people stop praising God? What happens when the people scorn God’s abundant grace and they break free to do whatever they want?
Whenever this happens, in recent or ancient times, such as in Nazi Germany or Soviet Russia, a spiritual famine spreads throughout the land, leaving poverty, sickness, death in its wake. Without God’s grace, we remain riveted to the fallen side of our nature where “every intention of the thoughts of (our hearts) was only evil continually.” (Genesis 6:5).
But despite our inclination to reject God, he remains the source of our salvation and our good, and so we should praise the Lord mightily because His grace is life. It is by God’s grace that we are saved from our wandering into dangerous places. “O Lord my God [we say with all sincerity of heart], I called to you for help and you healed me” (Psalm 30:2). Therefore, we should say, I will praise your holy name because “you turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, that my heart may sing to you and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give you thanks forever” (Psalm 30:11–12).
—Eric Kampmann, Signposts