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Read Psalm 150

Praise the Lord.

Praise God in his sanctuary;
    praise him in his mighty heavens.
Praise him for his acts of power;
    praise him for his surpassing greatness.
Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet,
    praise him with the harp and lyre,
praise him with timbrel and dancing,
    praise him with the strings and pipe,
praise him with the clash of cymbals,
    praise him with resounding cymbals.

Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.

Praise the Lord.

Go Deeper

Psalm 150 provides a short, but fitting end to the collection of Psalms. The last sentence of the last Psalm encourages us to “Praise the Lord.” In fact, the reader is encouraged to “praise” 13 times in these six verses. The Psalmist isn’t shy or unclear about the “call to action” that comes from Psalm 150. In this Psalm, we learn where to praise God, why to praise God, how to praise God, and who should praise God.

In verse 1 the Psalmist tells us where to praise God: Both in His sanctuary and in his mighty heavens. In other words, there’s not a place in the universe where we shouldn’t praise Him! We can praise Him in the physical location of His sanctuary (tabernacle, temple) and we can praise Him in the heavens. Everything in the heavens and earth is his (1 Chronicles 29:11)—it’s appropriate to praise God anywhere and everywhere.

Verse 2 tells us why we can praise God: for both His acts of power and for His surpassing greatness. We worship God for both who He is (His greatness) and what He’s done (His acts of power). We praise Him for His attributes and for His work. We will never run out of reasons to praise Him.

As far as how we praise God, the Psalmist lists out all the instruments in the praise band—trumpet, harp, cymbals, and the timbrel (if you’re wondering, a timbrel is like a tambourine). We can make a joyful noise to the Lord (Psalm 100), and praise Him both with instruments and with our voices.

And who should praise God? Anyone and everyone who has breath in their lungs should praise the Lord. The psalmist makes it very clear that if you have breath, then you are to praise Him. If you’re breathing, then your heart is pumping, and you can praise Him. May we be people who praise God all the days He lets our hearts beat and our bodies produce breath. Praise the Lord!

Questions

  1. How do you choose to praise God? What does this look like for you in your day-to-day life and activities?
  2. Take some time to praise God for who He is (His attributes) and for His works (His acts of power). Write down three attributes and two evidences of His power.
  3. What happens if we don’t praise the Lord (Luke 19:39-40)? How does this challenge you?

Pray this

God, I pray that we would be people who praise you for as long as you give us breath in our lungs. Thank you that you give us breath and that you allow us to worship and praise you. Help us to not take a beating heart and breathing lungs for granted, and instead help us to give you the honor and glory that you are due. May we be people who are marked not by complaints, whining, and grumbling, but rather be a people who praise and worship you with our thoughts, actions, and words. Amen. 

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4 thoughts on “Psalm 150”

  1. I’m humbled to be invited into praise of our God, One who is so worthy and honored by our praise, who has clearly demonstrated His love for us. Today, let’s set aside self-worship and be done with it! Let’s turn our focus and our moments into adoration and worship of Him. In the words of these lyrics “It’s your breath in our lungs, so we pour out our praise to worship You only.” Take a listen to this song “Great Are You Lord”.
    https://youtu.be/uHz0w-HG4iU

  2. I love love love the thought and actions of PRAISE!! When, how, and what we do here and now is “practice ” for the eternal and so very exciting destiny we have with God to be constantly and continually praising!!! Let everything that has breath Praise Him!!! Woohoo!!!

  3. What a great way to close out the hymnary of Psalms. And what an uplifting euphony of praise the psalmist describes. As long as I have breath, let me praise the LORD!

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