“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. “–Ps. 150
I recently wrote, ” For the Christian giving thanks should be as natural as breathing”. Our text is a confirmation of that statement. God deserves and demands praise from “every thing that hath breath”(vs. 6). If you are able to breath you are obligated to praise God– the One who made heaven and earth. He gives us breath, so how can we refuse Him? You shouldn’t be able to make it through this sentence without praising God. Why? That is explained in verse two:
— “for his mighty acts”= His Acts- what He has done.
— “according to his excellent greatness”= His Attributes- who He is.
Perhaps this is a good place for a warning. I’m convinced that some people are praise centered, but not God-centered. They love the excitement of praising God, but do not actually love God. If you examine the evidences of love you will see that they are lacking, yet they very emotional and vocal during the worship service– if the particular song suits them. But true praise is focused on God Himself. Anyone can say, “Praise the Lord”, but that doesn’t mean they do. Some are focused on the gifts rather than the Giver. They are more concerned about what they get out of the service than they are about what God gets from it. True praise is always directed toward God.
Notice that this Psalm also instructs us as to where and how we can praise God. To sum it up–whether you sing, play an instrument, whistle a tune, clap your hands, dance a jig, or whisper a prayer it can be a means of praise. Whether you are in the church sanctuary, your home, place of business, hospital, or a prison you can praise the Lord, and should. Sometimes we worry too much about tradition and formality. I love the story I read about a fellow who hadn’t been raised in church and wasn’t familiar with religious jargon. After he was baptized, he came up out of the water clapping his hands, shouting, “Hot dog, hot dog, hot dog!” He was so excited about God that he wasn’t worried about what people might think. “Well”, you say, “I’m not the emotional type. My personality is quiet and reserved”. Really? How quiet and reserved are you during the “Super-bowl” game? Our text tells us to praise God with all we’ve got. Unless we put something into it God gets nothing out of it, and if He isn’t pleased our “worship” is worthless.
