One important image from the Bible that you will see in a lot of hymns is the image of all God’s creation praising Him. The angels and saints praise God from heaven and we join in that chorus of praise from earth. A hymn that uses this imagery is the Doxology written by Thomas Ken:

Praise God, from whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him, all creatures here below;
Praise Him above, ye heav’nly host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
Amen.

So before you listen to the Doxology, try and form an image in your mind of all God’s creation praising Him. Spend time meditating on the order of beings.

God is the highest being. God is the Uncreated One. There was no beginning to God. He was not created by anyone. He has always existed. So, no one created God. And God created everything else – angels, humans, animals, and plant life. God, the creator, sits on His throne in heaven and looks out to see His creation praising Him joyfully.

The angels and saints praise God in heaven, humans praise Him from earth; and you can envision all His works praising Him. Think of God sitting on His throne and being pleased to see you joining in the chorus of voices praising Him.

So you can think of the image of God on His throne. But there is also another image to think of about God. The hymn says, “Praise God from whom all blessings flow.” That is referencing imagery of God as a fountain – the fountain source of all of our blessings. So, see an image of God as the fountain that all of our blessings flow out of to us.

God is self-sufficient and all-sufficient. He sustains Himself. He has everything He needs within Himself. He doesn’t get resources from anyone or anything else. And we get everything we have from Him. “In Him we live and move and have our being.” (Acts 17:28) He supplies all our needs out of His all-sufficiency. He gives us every breath and heartbeat, all of our spiritual graces…everything. And when we sing this hymn to Him, we are praising Him for being that fountain from whom all our blessings so richly flow. So envision yourself singing this hymn to God when you are singing it, and see yourself joining in that chorus. Feel that connection to your spiritual family. We are all singing praises to Him together.

Take a few moments to meditate on that imagery before singing the hymn. And then see if you can keep the imagery in your mind while you are singing it.

Here is a link to the sheet music:

Our Great Redeemer’s Praise page 737 | Hymnary.org

I hope to be able to post an audio recording of me playing it on the piano soon.