Psalm 150 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

A Psalm of Praise.

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.  

The psalmist begins saying: Praise the Lord!  And ends:  Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.   All of creation, everything that has breath and even what does not, acknowledges, is obedient to, and so praises the Lord, the God of creation. Only people were created with a free will. Of all of creation, only we can choose whether or not we will acknowledge, be obedient to, and so praise the Lord.  Philippians 2:5-11 says: Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped,  but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.  For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name,  so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth,  and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.  The God who created and set the world into perfect balance, above and beyond the comprehension and the understanding of the greatest minds in every field of science, has also ordained that a day will come when every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.  Today there is a choice. Praise the Lord!  Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.

The psalmist says:  Praise God in His sanctuary; Praise Him in His mighty expanse. Praise Him for His mighty deeds; Praise Him according to His excellent greatness.   1 Corinthians 3:16-17 says:  Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?  If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.   We should praise God in and with our bodies; with everything we do and with all that we are. People sometimes debate whether a person needs to go to church or they can worship God in the splendor of nature.   The psalmist supports both: Praise God in His sanctuary; Praise Him in His mighty expanse.  Then too, we praise God for all that He has done. In particular we should praise Him because: God so loved the world that He gave His only begottenSon, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.  We also though praise Him just because He is God. He is worthy of our praise regardless of what He has done. He is the God above all gods, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords; the Almighty.

The psalmist says:  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.  Everything expressive and creative, music, art and literature are meant to praise and honor God. Only because of disobedience and free will, have people perverted what is intended to praise God. One day those things too, along with all of creation, will be restored to God’s plan and intention. As it was in the beginning, one day, God will look at all of creation and see that it is good. In Isaiah 6:1-3 it says:  In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple.  Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one cried to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory!”   From heaven’s perspective, even in the midst of the turmoil and chaos of the world, the whole earth is filled with the glory of God. Jesus taught us that we should pray:  Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.   One day earth will be fully and perfectly aligned with heaven. Until then we need to see with eyes of the Spirit. John 4:24 says:  “God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” 

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 praise the Lord.  Amen.