Let everything praise the Lord

Psalm 150 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

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!

As I read the exhortation of the psalmist to praise the Lord:  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 couldn’t help but to think how many would be offended if those instruments and dancing were used in their sanctuary. Too often we allow things that are intended to be good and pure to be perverted. Some types of music are not thaught to be God honoring, but rather of the devil. The truth is, God is the God of creation and He is also the God of creativity. The devil does nothing original. He perverts and counterfeits what is good for unholy purposes. Jesus came to redeem and restore not only fallen people, but all of creation and all of creativity. As believers we should take back everything the devil has perverted. We should take back all forms of music, art, dance; everything good that God intended for His glory and praise.

We should also take back entertainment, media and technology. All of these can be used for God’s glory and to give Him praise. We, as believers and followers of Christ are to be light to the world. We should not let things remain in darkness because they have been perverted for the sake of evil. Light dispels darkness. The devil and darkness have taken many things in our culture and society. The world will not like the light of Christ and the glory of God being released into the darkness, but that should not be what controls what we do. In John 3:17-21 Jesus says:  “God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.”     Like Jesus, we should not go into the world to judge it. We should not concern ourselves as much with speaking of what is evil and dark. That only gives more attention to the darkness. Instead we should shine the light of Christ into the darkness. Those who love the darkness rather than the light will choose their own judgment. Some though, seeing the light, will know and practice truth.

In John 8:44 Jesus says:  “…the devil,... was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”    Everything that is impure, ungodly and unholy has been perverted by the lies of the devil. It goes beyond our forms of entertaiment, art and expression. It is beyond technology and media. The lies and the perversion of all that is good touches every area of life. Psalm 127: says:  Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from Him.  The devil has convinced much of our society, that rather than a gift, they are a burden, an inconcenience and a choice. Believers should not stop having and cherishing children because the world has believed a lie. Our schools and most of our colleges were established to teach not only reading and writing and arithmetic; not only science and history, but also to teach His story, to teach scripture and to instill Godly morals and values. We should not abandon education because it has been perverted, but rather we should work to restore it to its purpose, to teach truth and what is right, rather than lies, perversion and darkness.

James 1:17-18 says:  Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow. In the exercise of His will He brought us forth by the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of first fruits among His creatures.   Every good thing was given by God. The devil has no ability to create; only to pervert and deceive. Jesus, the redeemer and restorer of all things, taught us to pray: Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.   We need to stop allowing the things on earth to dictate what we do. We need to bring the light and the glory of God that is in heaven to the things of earth. Like the psalmist, we need to declare:

Praise the Lord! Praise God in His sanctuary; Praise Him in His mighty expanse. Praise Him for His mighty deeds; Praise Him according to His excellent greatness. 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. Let everything that has breath raise the Lord. Praise the Lord!   Thank You Lord Jesus Christ, the redeemer and restorer of all things. Amen.