Thought for the Day – Praise the Lord [Part 2]
Nathan Severs shares his Thought For The Day from the Psalms
Welcome back to the second half of a quick look through the final 7 psalms. All psalms focusing in on the who, the why and even the how of praising the Lord. If you haven’t yet seen the first half where we briefly looked at Psalms 144 to 147, I’d suggest watching that first! Otherwise, let’s carry on.
Psalm 148 takes a slightly different tack to the previous praise focused psalms. The bulk of it is who and what should praise the Lord – from the angels and heavenly hosts to the furthest flung objects in the universe and the geographical features of earth to the animals and then to all the people whether kings of superpowers or small children. In other words because God created all things, all things do or should bring Him praise. Why praise the Lord? Look around you, you don’t have to look far to find a reason.
Psalm 149 reminds Israel and by extension all God’s people that God is their maker and king who, as we’ve previously seen takes delight in them. It speaks of how when God’s people praise Him it also makes clear all those who will be judged for their praise of other things instead of God. Be one of those who praises their maker and not other created things.
Finally, Psalm 150 gives us the when, where, why, how and who of our praise of God. So when and where? We should praise Him in his sanctuary and in his mighty heavens and I think, by implication, everywhere in between! We should praise God everywhere and all of the time. And why? As well as the many other reasons we’ve seen over the last 6 psalms, we should praise him for his power and his greatness. How should we praise God? With instruments and dancing – we should express ourselves. Hopefully we don’t mask our feelings for our loved ones – we shouldn’t be hiding our true feelings for God then either. And who should praise the Lord? Everything that has breath. As we know, one day every knee will bow. The outcome for those who bow in praise voluntarily is infinitely better than for those who have no choice.
I hope this very brief skim of these psalms of praise has given you at least one reason to praise God, whatever our circumstances are. As I said last time, why not read through psalms 144 to 150 over the coming days turning at least one idea from each into a prayer or song or even dance of praise to our almighty saviour God.
Praise the Lord.