Psalm 148:1-6 (NLT)
Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord from the heavens! Praise him from the skies! Praise him, all his angels! Praise him, all the armies of heaven! Praise him, sun and moon! Praise him, all you twinkling stars! Praise him, skies above! Praise him, vapors high above the clouds! Let every created thing give praise to the Lord, for he issued his command, and they came into being. He set them in place forever and ever. His decree will never be revoked.
It was 5:59am when my wife’s cell phone buzzed with an in-coming call. Too early for a telemarketer. What in the world? It was out 18-year old son. He had just gotten into an accident on the way to work. Thankfully, he was ok as was the other driver. It wasn’t his fault. The damage to his car wasn’t enormous. He was mad but pretty calm, all things considered. Most mornings one of us would hear him leave—he drove a pretty loud car at the time—and we would pray for his safety as he departed.
Praise God for his safety as well as the other driver’s!
Praise God that the damage wasn’t horrible!
Praise God that I had the flexibility to take the time to get to him and help!
Praise God that he was driving a heavy car!
Praise God that we could afford car insurance!
Praise God that he could still get to work!
Praise God for the police officer!
Praise God the other driver was calm and could get to his job!
Praise God! Praise God! Praise God!
Sadly, it usually takes an upsetting interruption to our regular routine to get us to shout out an enthusiastic, “Praise God! Thank You, Jesus!” Sometimes, it’s the opposite as an unexpected blessing comes our way. “Praise God! Thank You, Jesus!” Whatever the case, our level of praise is often determined by the circumstances of our lives, but in today’s psalm, it is not conditioned on the good or bad that exists in our lives, but rather, is based solely on who God is and what He has done. Your existence alone is reason enough to praise the Lord because it allows you to experience all that He has done, is doing, and will do. In short, it allows you to experience Him.
Of course, most of mankind never gives God the praise He deserves. “Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused. Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools” (Rom 1:21-22 NLT). If you came to Christ as an adult, you can probably remember when “the lights came on” and you began to comprehend just how amazing your Lord is. Praise the Lord for your salvation! Praise the Lord for your blessings! Praise the Lord for his mercy! Praise the Lord for your spouse, or family, or friends, or all of the above! Praise the Lord for…you fill in the blank. But behind all of those things is the Lord himself, and that is the psalmist’s point: Our praise is not conditioned on what He does for us, but solely on who He is.
I love the way Charles Spurgeon describes this notion, in words far too glorious to be paraphrased:
“On the summit of creation, the glory of the Lord is to be revealed, even as the tops of the highest Alps are tipped with the golden light of the same sun which glads the valleys. Heavens and heights become the higher and the more heavenly as they are made to resound with the praises of Jehovah. See how the Psalmist trumpets out the word ‘PRAISE.’ It sounds forth some nine times in the first five verses of this song. Like minute-guns, exultant exhortations are sounded forth in tremendous force–Praise! Praise! Praise! The drum of the great King beats round the world with this one note–Praise! Praise! Praise! ‘Again, they said, Hallelujah.’ All this praise is distinctly and personally for Jehovah. Praise not his servants nor his works; but praise HIM. Is he not worthy of all possible praise? Pour it forth before HIM in full volume; pour it only there!”
Amen and Amen. Praise the Lord!
