Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.
Praise the Lord (Psalm 150:6).
Imagine that.
Seriously
Take a moment, before you embark on your week, to imagine every living thing declaring its praise to God.
Every man
woman
child
animal
bird
fish
insect
Everything that draws breath will use that breath to exalt the One who created
sustained
loved
redeemed.
That’s some Hallelujah right there.
Happy Monday, Beloved.
…praise him with the clash of cymbals, praise him with resounding cymbals (Psalm 150:5).
OK, oddest worship memory…
Many moons ago, I was part of a church that was rather…demonstrative in its worship. It was commonplace to see people raising hands, dancing, calling out in various versions of prayer languages. No snake handling, but up to that pretty much anything went. I was a little, shall we say, conservative in my personal worship style, but I appreciated the freedom of my brothers and sisters and had no problems with their praise.
Until Flag Lady showed up.
You heard me.
Flag
Lady
She had these pennants…shiny gold pennants. They may have been silk, but I don’t know for sure.
I just know that they hurt.
You see, each of her two pennants was about three feet long and was attached to a twelve-inch stick. Each tapered to a point, as pennants are wont to do. She would dance up and down the aisle of the church, spinning and twirling and leaping and smacking folks in the head with these flags.
You think I’m joking
but I have scars.
Have you ever seen an expert lion tamer in action? Maybe an old Indiana Jones film?
Well then.
Beloved, praise him loud and long and with everything you’ve got.
Just, you know, try not to leave a welt.
Happy Friday, Beloved
Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise him with the harp and lyre, praise him with tambourine and dancing, praise him with the strings and flute… (Psalm 150:3-4)
God is a music lover.
Now there’s all kinds of music, and all kinds of worship. Some of you go for the traditional, hymn-based-pipe-organ-eighteen-verse-four-part-harmony-gimme-my-choir-robe variety of worship.
Sweet
Some of you need a little head-banging-base-thumping-electric-guitar-screeching-shout-to-the-Lord-and-give-me-an-Advil-for-my-migraine kind of worship.
Cool
Some of you go for the nose flute and hand ocarina.
Probably not many, though.
Guess what? God likes it all. If it’s done with all your heart, and it’s done for his glory, it’s worship. It may not be my style, but it’s his.
Because, in the end, you are the instrument of praise.
Happy Thursday, Beloved.
Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness (Psalm 150:2).
Yesterday’s verse told us where to praise God–essentially everywhere. This verse tells us why to praise God.
He’s big.
Really big
And he does big things.
I apologize for getting all high-brow and exegetical on you, but we need to get the theology straight here.
God is greater than anything or anyone else you can think of.
Yes, even that.
And definitely them
He is Almighty God, creator of heaven and earth.
His very nature makes him worthy of your praise
my praise
all praise.
But wait–there’s more! This God, this infinitely powerful, surpassingly awesome One,
knows you
loves you
calls you his own.
We have reason upon reason to praise his name.
Happy Wednesday, Beloved.
Praise the Lord.
Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens (Psalm 150:1).
I praised God in church on Sunday, so we could say I was in his sanctuary.
But aren’t we the temple of the Holy Spirit? Paul says so in 1 Corinthians. So, anywhere I praise him is his sanctuary, because I am his sanctuary.
We are his sanctuary.
Beloved, the Old Testament saints could only imagine what you and I take for granted.
So, maybe we should stop taking it for granted.
I can’t claim to have been to the heavens, but God is there, so if I praise him then I am praising him in his mighty heavens, yes? Besides, I will someday praise him from heaven, and God is not bound by time, so he already exists there, so he is experiencing me praising him in his mighty heavens.
I’m just not there yet.
Boy, you can say that about a lot of things.
Praise the Lord today, Beloved.
Right here,
Right now
Happy Tuesday.