Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord O my soul!

⁸ The Lord opens the eyes of the blind;
The Lord raises up those who are bowed down;
The Lord loves the righteous;
⁹ The Lord protects the strangers;
He supports the fatherless and the widow,
But He thwarts the way of the wicked.
¹⁰ The Lord will reign forever,
Your God, O Zion, to all generations.
Praise the Lord!

Do we really know and understand what it is we are saying when we read aloud verses such as these? It easy to allow our familiarity with words to soften and minimalize their true meaning. The word praise which opens the psalm above comes from the word hallelujah, which is a compound word in Hebrew, combining hallal, an exhortation to praise and Yah the Hebrew name for God. So this praise that we are called to or call others to when we read and declare this psalm, is a praise that God alone is worthy of. It is not like the praise we have for people, it is the highest form of praise. The psalmist then directs this praise to none other than the Lord. We in the U.S., in particular have a difficult time with the concept of a Lord or a Sovereign. Our political and social belief and value of equality of all people causes us to lose the understanding of what it means for some one to be a Lord over us, to have sovereign authority.  It is no wonder then that we have difficulty with our ability to submit fully even to the Lordship and authority of Jesus Christ, who is our Savior and must be our Lord. There can be no casual tone or meaning when a true believer, a follower of Christ utters the words Praise the Lord.

The psalmist then follows the opening line by repeating the words Praise the Lord and adding, O my soul. We can not call others to this highest praise of our Lord unless we ourselves are going to praise Him at the level of our soul. This again is not an emotional expression, this is a deeply, heartfelt conviction and decision. God desires that we worship Him in Spirit and truth as John 4:24 says.  God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.   This worship, "O my soul", is the truth part of that worship that God seeks. 

Verse 2 continues,  I will praise the Lord while I live; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being. Each of us has a number of days which we will spend here on earth in this physical realm and life that we know. After that there will be eternity, something which we again have little or no ability to comprehend. This much we know,  there is eternal praise and worship of God in the heavenly realm. Revelation 4:8-11 ... and day and night they do not cease to say,“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come.”

⁹ And when the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, to Him who lives forever and ever, ¹⁰ the twenty-four elders will fall down before Him who sits on the throne, and will worship Him who lives forever and ever, and will cast their crowns before the throne, saying, ¹¹ “Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created.”

There is and will be unceasing praise and worship of God in heaven. If we are to experience that we need to, like the psalmist, praise the Lord while we live;
 sing praises to my God while we have our being. 

We could go on line by line and even word by word through this psalm. We can apply the same examination to every word of scripture, taking time to fully comprehend the depth of what it says to us. We need to apply the same principle when we sing hymns or praise and worship songs, not allowing our familiarity with words to lessen our praise and worship.  When we pray we need to recognize that we are addressing and having conversation with the Most High God.

God seeks those who worship in Spirit and Truth. He encourages us to pray,  Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.(Philippians 4:6) We are encouraged to come to God boldly,  Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.(Hebrews 4:16)

Let us never though forget what a privilege that is. Let us never become casual about the price that was paid by Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior to obtain our place in the presence of the Most High God.

So,   Praise the Lord!    Praise the Lord, O my soul! 

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