Does God Inhabit Our Praises?

I saw a social media post the other day that called on people lift songs of healing and prayer over a particular person, all to see a work of healing happen, and in that post was the phrase (I'm roughly paraphrasing), "...after all, God inhabits the praises of His people..."

The idea was that in the songs being sung, God's presence would manifest and healing would take place. 

But is this really the case? Let's take a look at the quoted phrase and rightly divide what Scripture says. 

Psalm 22 Examined

The phrase, "God inhabits the praises of His people," is very popular among worship leaders, especially those who lean toward more charismatic views. It's quoted from Psalm 22:3, which says:

Yet you are holy,
enthroned on the praises of Israel. (ESV)

Here's another translation:

Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One;
you are the one Israel praises. (NIV)

Same verse, different translations = different meanings. The ESV (and many others) translate the verse as God is holy and enthroned on the praises of His people. The NIV contrasts this with God being enthroned as holy, and He is the one whom His people praise. 

The original Hebrew transliterates to this:

'atâ (you) qāḏôš (holy) yāšaḇ (dwell) tᵊhillâ (praise) yiśrā'ēl (Israel).

From that phrase, translators have to make a decision on where to divide the sentence, which gives distinct meaning and implication, depending on where the division is. Is it, "You dwell as 'holy,' and Israel praises you," or is it, "You are holy, and You dwell in the praises of Israel?"

Looking at the verse in larger context, we see that both versions support a shared picture; here are the first five verses of Psalm 22 (ESV; NIV): 

1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?
2 O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer,
and by night, but I find no rest.

3 Yet you are holy, [Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One;]
enthroned on the praises of Israel. [you are the one Israel praises.]
4 In you our fathers trusted;
they trusted, and you delivered them.
5 To you they cried and were rescued;
in you they trusted and were not put to shame.

When placed within its larger context, we see that verse 3 illustrates God's position in relation to His people, their affections, and their expression, the latter of which is important to keep in mind. Israel, during the time of King David (who wrote Psalm 22), understood God to inhabit a dwelling place within the Ark of the Covenant in the Tabernacle, before the Temple was constructed. They also understood "praise" to represent the full picture of worship within God's dwelling place, and that praise looked very different from how we worship today:

• The people bring their sacrifices.

• The priests offer the sacrifices on the brazen altar.

• The priests proceed to the Holy Place after being cleansed, leaving the people outside.

• The High Priest, on the Day of Atonement, enters the Holy of Holies behind the Veil, to place a blood offering on the Mercy Seat of the Ark of the Covenant, where God's ultimate presence dwelled.

We see here that worship of God carried participation by all, but access to God Himself became increasingly limited to higher orders of priests, down to a single person experiencing the fullness of God one day each year. Now, in the New Testament Age, access to God is made available to all believers, but how we go about attempting to encounter the presence of God differs greatly than the precedent shown in Psalm 22.

"Manifest" Examined

Much modern, evangelical interpretation and practice would say that God's presence is made manifest in praise, or is made seen, experienced, and in tangible form—something that was either hidden or concealed. This line of theological thinking took root in the early 20th century, following the first wave of Christian revivalism among those who belonged to Wesleyan holiness groups. It gave way to various forms of Pentecostalism and Charismatic movements, which emphasized a return back to the spiritual power that characterized the church in the days of the Apostles following the arrival of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. For many in these groups, since music is used as an expression of praise, God's presence is made manifest when we sing praise. There's a sort of causal aspect to this: We sing praises, and then God shows up.

But how do we reconcile this with: 

1. The larger context of verse used to support this claim; 

2. The omnipresence of God; 

3. And the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in believers?

When looking at Psalm 22, there is no indication of activating God's presence by initiating praise. On the contrary, the psalm points to an eternal sovereignty of God as holy, enthroned over His people, and they understood that He had chosen a specific dwelling place among His people where they were to praise Him. Here, we see God as already there; His presence is sharply focused on a specific place where His people are to gather and worship Him. He exercises His authority as Creator over his creation and commands them to come. For example, see Psalm 100:

1 Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth!
2  Serve the Lord with gladness!
Come into his presence with singing!

Here, there is an environment into which we enter: God is there and we come in. Contrastingly, modern "worship-ese" beckons God to come to His believers' place of worship, with phrases like:

• "We invite Your Spirit here."

• "We give You permission to come and do a work."

• "The Holy Spirit has filled this place this morning."

Each of these phrases relies on some sort of implicit absence of the Spirit of God in the gathering place of believers, and for God's Spirit to be present, or made manifest, He relies on our invitation and call through our praise of Him.

In this line of thinking, we inadvertently claim some kind of control over the Spirit of God. Like I said earlier: We sing praise, He shows up. The latter essentially depends on the former. 

But this goes against God's character and nature. He is sovereign, He is omniscient, He is omnipresent, so in other words, He ALWAYS "IS"—there is no end to His being, presence, and authority. He is the beginning and the end—and His presence does not depend on our initiation to be felt or experienced. The idea of manifesting God's presence through an act of praise works against the natural relationship of Creator to creation.

Now, I understand that we are specifically dealing with nuances of Hebrew language being translated into English words, and I believe that's where much doctrine gets skewed, based on how the words are translated. And in this case, we have to view the verse's context (God perpetually dwelling in Israel's place of praise), compare it to the tearing of the Temple veil and the subsequent coming of the Holy Spirit (God indwells within man), and then examine our places of corporate praise.

• Pre-crucifixion: God, while omniscient and omnipresent, commands His people to worship Him at a fixed point where His presence dwelled. (Tabernacle → Temple)

• Post-crucifixion: God, in the form of the Son, dies and the Temple veil is torn, opening the barrier between God and man.  His Spirit then comes at Pentecost as a helper for the believers and subsequently (and perpetually), all future generations of believers. 

Nowhere, in any of these situations, is there any indication that God's presence is intangible, unfelt, or not experienced. Rather, His presence is made even more available for all believers to come and enjoy, rather than being reserved for the high priest only. Even further, His Spirit indwells in the hearts of believers, which is perpetual to the point of ultimate glorification—so why do we call on God to come? He's already present! 

No, "manifesting the presence of God" and calling on God to come to our place of praise is simply incompatible with Biblical precedent, in both Old and New Testament contexts. And at one level or another, I think we, as believers, understand this, but yet we still speak in these frameworks. 

Reframing the Dialogue

What would be more helpful is to adopt phrasing that more accurately reflects the focus of our attention to worshipping a God whose presence is already at hand, in our hearts—and our place of praise becomes an environment where the focus is acutely sharpened. After all, it's OUR HEARTS that are prone to wander, and God beckons us to come to Him. 

Here are some ways I try to reframe the dialogue in worship services where I lead music:

• Instead of inviting the Holy Spirit, we WELCOME Him. In this, we still adopt a posture of submission and tie it into recognizing the Lord with our full focus on His already-dwelling presence.

• Continue to thank the Holy Spirit for His immediate, present work in awakening our affections to the truth of the Word being sung and preached, but TAKE IT FURTHER in the conversation by verbally committing to seek His will and be transformed by Him outside of worship services. 

When it comes back to what I opened this article with (singing songs of healing to prompt a work of healing), there's a larger debate at the center of this: Does the Holy Spirit still works in miraculous signs, or have those ceased? I won't get into that discussion in this post, but regardless of where you stand on the issue, I think all parties would agree that it is good and right to request a work of physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual healing by God for His people. To that end, it is also good and right to sing songs that touch on those issues; after all, singing is a way of communicating to God our desires, our praise, our doubts, and our thanksgiving to him. 

TL;DR

My whole point is this: It is a GOOD thing to savor the presence of God in times of worship. But, it's more helpful to re-think our place in the way we enter into a time of worship. We come into God's presence, or rather, we come into focused time of savoring His presence. It's not the other way around, where we come together and then invite God in, as if His presence had been absent prior to our invitation.

When we re-frame our thinking, it transforms our words and actions, which ultimately helps us glorify God more aligned with the precedent of how He has been worshipped since the beginning and into the everlasting time to come. 

Be blessed 👊✌️