> The praise of God thing and the thanking God thing I think are nothing but inefficient wastes of time: God, simply by being God, already knows that you praise him. He knows that you're thankful for his works. Why would he want you to waste time actually stating that when you could be doing something else that pleases him?
>
> -FP

Because He asks you to?

Honestly, I really think that some of your point here is good, mainly that you could be doing something to please God. That, in itself, could be praise and thanks.

But God doesn't know that you praise Him unless you do so; He might know that you think highly of Him, or really like that He made trees, or whatever, but He cannot know you praise unless you do.

The same goes for thanks. In a later post you say that one can be thankful without saying "thank you". True. But being thankful is not just taking on a state of mind, as good as that is. A thankful person is the kind of person who actively gives thanks, and thanks others. This need not take the form of speech, but it must be some kind of action. Don't be confused by the nuance of English language; "praise" and "thank" are verbs, and having a state of mind is not technically an action. A choice, perhaps, and a good one; but not an action.

Beyond pleasing God, however, praise has more effect, as does prayer, and thanks. God has already assured us that prayer is important, mainly by instructing us to pray. One reason for this could be that it builds faith to pray and believe God.

For praise, it is because we were intended and designed to praise. Praising is not only good for God, but good for us. Were this world what it should be, I think that not only would the act of praise please God, change us into grateful people, and make us altogether more agreeable and kind, it would also be one of the most pleasurable acts we could engage in. One of the worst things about the way the world is is that doing good is not pleasurable in the way it should be. I have no doubt that this is the case with praise, as well.

frum