Psalm 150

¹ Praise the LORD. Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens.
² Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness.
³ Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise him with the harp and lyre,
⁴ praise him with tambourine and dancing, praise him with the strings and flute,
⁵ praise him with the clash of cymbals, praise him with resounding cymbals.
⁶ Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD.

As you read this psalm, I hope you will stop and realized that everything in your world is not “All about Me”. However, as you look at this psalm you will see that we are to praise the Lord. As you look at these verses you will get the picture of a modern church service:

• 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
• praise him with the clash of cymbals
• praise him with resounding cymbals
• Let everything that has breath praise the LORD

Why Praise God?

       For his acts of power

For his surpassing greatness

What is this surpassing greatness? Paul answers this in Ephesians 1:3-14.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ: even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blemish before him in love: having foreordained us unto adoption as sons through Jesus Christ unto himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, which he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved: in whom we have our redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, making known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he purposed in him unto a dispensation of the fullness of the times, to sum up all things in Christ, the things in the heavens, and the things upon the earth; in him, I say, in whom also we were made a heritage, having been foreordained according to the purpose of him who worked all things after the counsel of his will; to the end that we should be unto the praise of his glory, we who had before hoped in Christ: in whom ye also, having heard the word of the truth, the gospel of your salvation,– in whom, having also believed, ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is an earnest of our inheritance, unto the redemption of God’s own possession, unto the praise of his glory.

As I finish another reading of the Psalms and Proverbs today, I realize that this month is almost over another month is almost upon me. This month I seasoned my daily readings with the daily devotional by Charles Swindoll title Wisdom for the Way. I found this devotional at the Goodwill store where I buy some of my books. On the inside cover I discovered these words “For Lindsey From the Craig’s May 2001”. The subtitle of this devotional is Wise Words for Busy People. How this book came from the Craig’s to Lindsey and then to me is a mystery, but as I look to the surpassing greatness of God, I realize how God can use a book to influence a person.

On page 62 of this devotional Charles Swindoll starts off the reading by writing “The only way we can come to terms with reality-is by trusting God, regardless.” As I continue to read this devotional, I noticed there were only two paragraphs. The first paragraph centered the words I and me. It is a matter of if I am trusting him, or if I do or don’t allow God in my world as I face each and every issue in my daily routine. The second paragraph centers on the word we. We can’t wait for conditions to be perfect, instead we must go on trusting. This gift of the Craig’s to give Lindsey a treasure to help her along the way is an example of their trusting God to work in her life. Sometimes it might appear that we have fail, however because of the surpassing greatness of God their gift might produce fruit elsewhere. As this simple devotional starts with an individual, the end result because of the surpassing greatness of God will be a group result.

Verse six “Let everything that has breath praise the LORD.” forces the reader to one conclusion and that is we are to praise the Lord. The journey that begins with the first breathe that a child takes at birth to the last breath we take before we pass from this life to eternity must include the process of praising the Lord.