Weds 30 June - Psalm 150
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 timbrel and dancing,
praise him with the strings and pipe,
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.
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Meditation on Psalm 150
As we come to the end of this cycle of the Psalms, what a way to end.
We have been on many a roller-coaster as we have gone through this cycle of Psalms. The various writers haven’t held back.
There have been high points and low points. There have been challenges. There have been emotions. There have been battles. There have been questions.
But through our journeyings there has been God. And, as we come to the end of this fifth book and to the end of all the Psalms, we are confronted with God and our praise of Him.
As one commentator says, ‘this Psalm contains no real teaching, no real explanation. It is an eloquent, passionate cry to all creation to give Yahweh the praise due to Him.’
If we backtrack for a while and remind ourselves that at the end of each of the previous books there is also the call to praise God, in spite of all the challenges that have been faced by the writers.
Psalm 41:13 ‘Praise be to the LORD, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Amen and Amen.’
Psalm 72:18-19 ‘Praise be to the LORD God, the God of Israel, who alone does marvellous deeds. Praise be to His glorious name forever; may the whole earth be filled with His glory. Amen and Amen.’
Psalm 89:52 ‘Praise be to the LORD forever. Amen and Amen.’
Psalm 106:48 ‘Praise be to the LORD, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Let all the people say, “Amen!” Praise the LORD.
Of course, it’s right that we pray and ‘let our requests be known to God’ but this Psalm has no requests, no petitions – just praise, praise and more praise.
Verse 1 The place of praise
Here we read of praising God in the sanctuary – in the OT this refers to the holy of holies in the Tabernacle where only the High Priest could go once a year.
Under the new covenant of grace we are God’s sanctuary. It is where God dwells and He lives in us by His Spirit.
Whether, therefore, in church or in our inner most being, we are to praise God. And, because we are indwelt by the Spirit of God, we should praise God wherever we are.
We also praise him in creation – ‘the heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands.’ (Psalm 19:1)
Scientists are constantly striving to discover new things about the universe.
For every new discovery, instead of saying, ‘look what I’ve found’, we should be saying ‘Praise God in His mighty heavens.’
Verse 2 The reason for praise
Two reasons are given:
- His acts of power – His Creation; His rescue of His people out of Egypt; His redemption through Christ; His raising Jesus from the dead; His power in us who believe and more!
- His surpassing greatness – there is no-one like our God. He is the one and only true God. Read Psalm 89:6-8
Verses 3-5 The music of praise
Every kind of instrument is covered – this is God’s orchestra - brass, wind, stringed-instruments, percussion. Even dancing is included.
The mention of a trumpet looks forward to the day when Jesus comes again - ‘the Trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised imperishable and we will be changed.’ (1 Corinthians 15:52)
When the seventh trumpet sounds – Revelation 11:15-18 - a song will be sung and we will be part of that great congregation.
Verse 6 The people of praise
‘Let everything that has breath’ - that’s you and me – praise the LORD.’
‘PRAISE THE LORD’
(Roger Purdom)
Daily Readings
Thursday 1 July - Psalm 1
Friday 2 July - Psalm 2
Saturday 3 July - Psalm 3
Sunday 4 July - Psalm 4
Monday 5 July - Psalm 5
Tuesday 6 July - Psalm 6
New International Version - UK (NIVUK)
Holy Bible, New International Version® Anglicized, NIV® Copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
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