Praise The LORD!
Praise the LORD! It was a phrase that my mother often uttered. She has gone on to glory, but the echoes of her praise remain. I have come to learn that we cannot praise God enough for who He is and all that He has done and will do for us. The psalmist in psalms 146 and 150 provide the bookends to the final five psalms in the book of Psalms. These final psalms are laser focused, exhorting God’s people to praise Him. If the Nike tag line is “just do it”, the psalmist’s tag line urges us in these psalms to “just praise Him!”. I pray that your praise today will be great for a greatly to be praised God! Amen.
Listen here to Kurt Carr & The Kurt Carr singers worship in song “For Every Mountain”
Praise the LORD. Praise the LORD, my soul. I will praise the LORD all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live. Do not put your trust in princes, in human beings, who cannot save. When their spirit departs, they return to the ground; on that very day their plans come to nothing. Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD their God. He is the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them— he remains faithful forever. He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. The LORD sets prisoners free, the LORD gives sight to the blind, the LORD lifts up those who are bowed down, the LORD loves the righteous. The LORD watches over the foreigner and sustains the fatherless and the widow, but he frustrates the ways of the wicked. The LORD reigns forever, your God, O Zion, for all generations. Praise the LORD. (Psalm 146)
Psalm 146 begins and ends with “Praise the LORD”. The psalmist declares that they will praise the LORD as long as they live. In contrast to the LORD, the psalmist warns not to put any trust or hope in man. Man is mortal and whatever power they may possess or plans they may have, are temporal and cease to exist when they die and their spirit departs and they are returned to earth. The psalmist then extols the reasons for putting your hope in the LORD. He is the Creator of everything. He is eternally faithful. He frees the imprisoned, lifts up the oppressed, provides for the hungry, gives sight to the blind, and loves the righteous. He protects the poor and the weak, the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow. And the psalmist finally proclaims that God’s reign in power and authority is eternal. And that’s why we praise Him!
Praise the LORD. Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens. Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness. Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise him with the harp and lyre, praise him with timbrel and dancing, praise him with the strings and pipe, praise him with the clash of cymbals, praise him with resounding cymbals. Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD. (Psalm 150)
Psalm 150 is the capstone of the book of Psalms. After all of the trial and hardship, joy and exultation experienced by the psalmists throughout the Psalms (mirroring the experiences in our own lives), the final triumphant song exhorts God’s people to praise Him above all else. Praise Him with everything in our being. Praise Him wherever we are. Praise Him with anything we have. Because of His greatness…praise Him! Because of His power… praise Him! Because of His grace and mercy… praise Him! Because of His steadfast love and His unfailing faithfulness… praise Him! Whatever He’s done for you, the psalmist tells us.… praise Him, praise the LORD!
Psalms 146-150 are known as the “Hallelujah Psalms”. Hallelujah literally means praise the Lord. The book of Psalms closes with these five psalms lifting up wave upon wave of praise to the Lord. After all of the emotional outpouring of the psalmists throughout the psalms, the final triumphant exhortation to close out the book, is for us to use everything in our being to praise the Lord and glorify Him. As long as we have breath, the psalmist tells us to use anything and everything we have to praise the LORD! Amen.
Blessings, Rev. Glenn
