Psalm 150 - A Call to Praise the Lord

Psalm 150

1 Praise the Lord!
Praise God in His sanctuary;
Praise Him in His mighty expanse.
2 Praise Him for His mighty deeds;
Praise Him according to His excellent greatness.
3 Praise Him with trumpet sound;
Praise Him with harp and lyre.
4 Praise Him with timbrel and dancing;
Praise Him with stringed instruments and pipe.
5 Praise Him with loud cymbals;
Praise Him with resounding cymbals.
6 Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.
Praise the Lord!
Message: A Call to Praise the Lord

Time: Based upon authorship and subject matter, Psalms cover a range of centuries. David is mentioned 73 times, Solomon 2, Moses 1, and 50 designate no specific person. It is believed they were compiled around 537 BC. The psalms deal with such subjects as God and His creation, war, worship, wisdom, sin and evil, judgment, justice, and the coming of the Messiah.

What the Lord is Saying:

One of the great things that has happened over the last 20 years in Christian circles and people of faith in Jesus is the emphasis and love for praise and worship music. In the 80s Hosanna Music were really the primary offerings of praise and worship music, but a few contemporary groups began to have praise and worship albums in the early 90's and these morphed into churches singing more contemporary songs from songwriters expressing themselves via praise. 20 years later it seems that most of the top selling Christian music on the various charts are primarily praise and worship offerings. 10 years ago most churches had a contemporary and traditional service but of late churches are more and more combining the two. My church had separate services, but in the last 7 years went to the both structure.

For me, it is a good reminder that my life needs to be about praise because often I have a tendency to be more selfish in my relationship with God and focused on how this is benefiting me. In the previous church we attended I noticed that the idea of worship was included in all the aspects of the church service, reminding us that worship is not only singing songs, but it is also how we live; so, the offering was an expression of worship as was the sermon, as was all the components of the service and our lives. The idea of grace living is that Jesus did it all and so in response to what he has done for us, we live a life of obedience to him because we desire to praise him and thank him for what he has done. We cannot help living this life of faith. And this life should manifest it throughout our lives. Thus, worship should be a component of our lives.

Everywhere
Praise God in His sanctuary; From these verses is the idea that we are to Praise God in His sanctuary, in the church, in the temple. I was reminded recently that the stable in which Jesus was born was a place of worship. It was a temple of sort where Jesus is embodied and was a place set aside for him. This is a reminder that sanctuaries are everywhere. They are in coffee shops where men and women gather to pray and keep one another accountable. They are in rooms of houses where families come together to pray. They are in rooms of churches. Thus, we can praise God throughout our worlds as we gather together.

Praise Him in His mighty expanse. Beyond this earth, in the heavens, in the mighty expanse we will praise the Lord. Praise is one of those acts that we will be doing for all eternity. In some ways I think of heaven as being mostly about praise. We are living but we are face to face with our God and just as I can't get too much time with Him and His Word, when given the opportunity to not have the encumbrance of work here, I imagine that life will be completely fulfilling and busy in worship and praise of God for eternity.

Thanksgiving for what He has done
Praise Him for His mighty deeds. This is where I struggle because I am so much about tomorrow and the future and going forward and often not about looking back at what has occurred. Our pastor is leaving. He announced he is moving on to another church back in his homeland - California. He has been at the church 7 years and the tendency for all of us is to say - what next. But one of the pastor's reminded us of the need to take a moment and think about all that God has accomplished in the last 7 years. And he has accomplished a lot through the service of this man and his family. We need to look back at times and be reminded of the sweet victories we have been able to experience.

Praise Him according to His excellent greatness. Not only has he done great deeds in our lives, but He is great. I try to think of the attribute of God: His faithfulness, His mighty hand, His order of this world, His providence, His kindness, His healing touch, His presence, His leading, His hearing our prayers, His acting -- these are all examples of How great He is. Once again, there is so much to praise Him about.

Praise beyond our own words
Praise Him with trumpet sound; Praise Him with harp and lyre. Praise Him with timbrel and dancing; Praise Him with stringed instruments and pipe. Praise Him with loud cymbals; Praise Him with resounding cymbals.  I remember the words of Russ Taff from an interview in the late 80s in which he said, "Music has a way of speaking to us like nothing else." As we are praising God, we are moved beyond just our voices, but there is also the desire to pick up instruments, whatever they are and play them before Him. I am truly amazed at the different types of music that are in the world. Often we gravitate towards a specific style, but it amazes me in the Christian music world that Rap, Hard Rock, Soft Rock, Alternative, Swing, Praise, Celtic, Pop, Anthems -- there are so many different styles and they all come together in praise and worship. The focus here is not simply the words. Instrumental music obviously can praise God. Again, we go beyond the singing and words and express praise with different kinds of instruments.

Everything
Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord! The crescendo of this Psalm is rather obvious, but still needs to be said. Let Everything that has breath praise the Lord. Thus, musical instruments have breath and humans have breath. Let it all praise the Lord. As we live and work and shop and worship and talk and fellowship; in all of our activities, we are to worship and praise the Lord.

Promise: Worshiping God in spirit and truth must be the goal of our lives.

Prayer: O Lord, I praise You and thank You for the reminder and proclamation of your Word, showing me that my entire life is a way to worship You. That is goes beyond church or Sunday's and permeates all of life. Help that to be so in my life. Thank you for all that you have done for me and for creation. I love music and praise you for it. Sometimes the artist I am listening to does not have an intent to be praising you, but in listening to it, I can praise You still. Thank you for living and breathing in all people. You are everyone's God, but not everyone calls you God. I praise You. Help me to know how to better praise you and take time specifically to remember all that you have done and thank you for what you are going to do.