The

writer Anne Lamott claims that a great deal of her prayer life can be

summarized by the alternating prayers “Help me, help me, help me”

and “Thank you, thank you, thank you.” Probably this is true of

most of us. And, of course, we also need to say “Sorry, sorry,

sorry” in confessing our sins. But we all recognize that we are

forever bringing God our needs and then—in appropriate

response—closing the loop with a prayer of gratitude.

Thanksgiving

is wonderful and necessary. But so is doxology—and it’s not

always clear that we do much of this. Doxology is praising God for

who he is. It is giving God the glory that is due him for his radiant

holiness. In thanksgiving we offer up gratitude for something we have

received. But in doxology we honor the very being of God. We exalt

and praise the Lord simply because he is God.

The

word doxology

comes from Greek and literally means “glory word.” We see God’s

glory, and we speak a word of amazement as we send that glory to God.

Doxologies

erupted from Paul quite often in his New Testament letters—and

usually near the end, as we find here in Philippians 4. Doxologies of

many kinds should regularly flow from our hearts and lips too!

Our

glorious God is worthy of all the glory we can beam back to him!