“Praise ye the LORD. Praise God in his sanctuary: praise him in the firmament of his power. Praise him for his mighty acts: praise him according to his excellent greatness .Praise him with the sound of the trumpet: praise him with the psaltery and harp. Praise him with the timbrel and dance: praise him with stringed instruments and organs. Praise him upon the loud cymbals: praise him upon the high sounding cymbals. Let every thing that hath breath praise the LORD. Praise ye the LORD” (Psalm 150:1-6).
Do you get the feeling that this is a Psalm of praise and all out joy in the Lord? These words of praise are inspiring and they encourage us to praise God everywhere and for everything. Do you do that? Probably not as much as God deserves. I know I am lax in praising Him like I should. Too often my prayers are: “I want…” or “Please do such and such.”
Then there are the complaints and the questions that I direct to Him—but where is the praise? Psalm 150 does not give a specific reason to praise Him, it is just pure praise because He is. We don’t need a specific reason to praise Him because there are many, many reasons to proclaim His praise.
Christians today have many cares weighing down upon them and we sometimes forget that we have a multitude of blessings that we take for granted. God has provided us with air to breathe, yet we forget how vital that is for our survival. Praise the Lord! We have water to drink, but do we praise Him for making that water? Most of us have food to eat and clothes to wear, but how often do we stop and thank God and praise Him for all He has provided?
“Praise ye the LORD. O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth forever” (Psalm 106:1).
Many of the Psalms are filled with praise as if the psalmist couldn’t contain his praise for God.
“Who can utter the mighty acts of the LORD? Who can shew forth all his praise?” (Psalm 106:2).
Who indeed?
God is the giver of all good things and we have so much to praise Him for. Praises to Him should always be in our hearts…and also on our lips. Most worship services today are very reserved and very organized. Don’t get me wrong, organization is good and needs to be encouraged.
“Let all things be done decently and in order” (1 Corinthians 14:40).
Being done “decently and in order” doesn’t mean they have to be “shy and reserved.” We need more all out praise in worship and in daily living. Do you lift your hands to worship and praise Him, or are you more afraid of what those sitting in the pew next to you might think. Worship and praise is all about Him. Psalm 150 also says to praise him with timbrel and dance. A timbrel is a type of tambourine and dance is…well it is just that, dance. There are many references to dance in the Old Testament; some are in worship of pagan gods, but many are in praise of God Almighty.
I would have loved to have seen Miriam and the women of Israel dance in worship and praise when the Egyptian army was drowned in the Red Sea. I would have also loved to see King David dance with joy as the Ark of the Covenant was coming to Jerusalem. Most dances today certainly don’t glorify God, and a Christian should never participate in a dance that is self-directed nor should it tempt someone to sin. Remember all things are to be done “decently and in order.”
“And David and all the house of Israel played before the LORD on all manner of instruments made of fir wood, even on harps, and on psalteries, and on timbrels, and on cornets, and on cymbals” (2 Samuel 6:5).
King David certainly knew how to praise God. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have a leader of our nation that was so in love with God that he could not keep quiet about praising the one true God? David chose to go with a group of men to bring the Ark of the Covenant to the City of David. There was true joy in David as he and the others played various musical instruments before the LORD.
“And David danced before the LORD with all his might; and David was girded with a linen ephod. So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the LORD with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet” (2 Samuel 6:14-15).
Yes, it would be wonderful to have one such as David to lead our nation.
There are miracles recorded in the Bible, especially in the New Testament. Miraculous healing would certainly be cause for praising the Lord. One such case occurred near Jericho. A blind man was sitting by the road begging when he heard a multitude of people passing by and asked about it. He was told that Jesus was passing by. What a thrill that must have been!
“And he cried, saying, Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me” (Luke 18:38).
What faith he had! “Son of David” is a Messianic title of Jesus, so even though this man could not see, he wasn’t as blind as to who Jesus was. Jesus heard his cry and stopped and asked what the man wanted from Him. The man only wanted was to see.
“And Jesus said unto him, Receive thy sight: thy faith hath saved thee. And immediately he received his sight, and followed him, glorifying God: and all the people, when they saw it, gave praise unto God” (Luke 18:42-43).
Praise ye the Lord!
It’s easy to praise God when things are going good, but His praise should always be on our lips. Paul was one who seemed to cause a ruckus wherever he went. If there was someone who opposed him he stood firm on God’s Word. On one such occasion he and Silas were in Philippi when a young woman began to follow them. She was possessed by a spirit of divination and her masters made money from her.
“The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation” (Acts 16:17).
Though she spoke the truth, the truth was not in her. After many days of this Paul had enough and in the name of Jesus Christ commanded the spirit to come out of her. It did, but now her masters could not use her for monetary gain. They took Paul and Silas to the magistrates who commanded that they be beaten and thrown into prison. Not only were they imprisoned but their legs were put in stocks. After a beating this must have been miserable. Did this subdue them and stop them from praising God? No, it didn’t.
“And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them” (16:25).
We all know the story. An earthquake shook the prison to its foundations and the prison doors were opened. The keeper of the prison woke-up and saw the prison doors open. If the prisoners had escaped the prison keeper would have had to pay with his life. He decided that suicide was a better option. Before he killed himself, Paul called out to him that they were all there. What joy and relief that jailer must have felt.
In the worst of situations Paul and Silas sang praises to God and when given the opportunity to escape they stayed put. What a wonderful witness they had shown. The jailer was overjoyed, “And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” (Acts 16:30). Because Paul and Silas praised God and were steadfast witnesses, not only did the jailer not commit suicide, but he gained eternal life. Praise ye the Lord!
Do you praise God continually?
If you truly understand what Jesus Christ has done for you then there should be a wellspring of joy overflowing in you continually.
“By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name” (Hebrews 13:15).
He alone is worthy of our praise. He left Heaven and came to earth to be our Kinsman Redeemer. He shed His blood as our once for all sacrifice in order to give us eternal life. Like the jailer you might ask, “What must I do to be saved?” First understand that you are a sinner:
“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” Romans 3:23).
You need to repent (change your mind about sin).
“Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord”(Acts 3:19).
Believe in the gift of salvation through the shed blood of Jesus Christ:
“And they said,’ Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house’” (Acts 16:31).
There is nothing more important than salvation through Jesus Christ. There is no other way to live eternally with Him. Praise ye the Lord!
“I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies.” Psalm 18:3.
Yes, He is worthy to be praised. Praise ye the Lord.
God bless you all,
Nathele Graham