One of my favorite books in the Bible is the book of Psalms. I love the imagery and the emotion that are found in the words of the authors. Perhaps my favorite of all the Psalms is Psalm 150, which is a call to worship. It starts and ends with the same exclamation “Praise the Lord!” This psalm can be broken down into 3 sections. Who are we praising, Why are we praising Him, and How are we to praise Him.
Who. We are called to give praise to God, our eternal Father in heaven, who created everything out of nothing! He is the Lord over all the universe, whose very glory will illuminate the new heavens and the new earth.
Why? The psalmist says we are to “Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise Him according to his excellent greatness.” Our God is great, His deeds are mighty, our repsonse should be praise and adoration. We received redemption through Jesus Christ who came into this world to endure the punishment for our sins; who rose victorious from the grave, conquering sin, death, and hell. And He will come again! When you think about that…how else can we respond? May our proclaimation be, “Praise the Lord!”
How? The psalmist lists all the ways we can praise the Lord. He says with trumpets, lutes, harps, tambourines, through dancing, strings, pipes, cymbals (both sounding and loud and crashing) and finally he says, “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!” Essentially, if you have it and you can worship with it, use it to praise the Lord! If you have breath, use it to praise the Lord. Our God is an amazing God, who loves His creation and is mighty beyond compare. Let all we do praise and glorify our God! As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10:31, “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”
Praise the Lord!