Rev. Don Campbell

Psalms 134, 146-150

THOUGHT FOR TODAY, June 15, 2019

“PRAISE THE LORD”

Psalm 134 sets the stage for the final 15 psalms. The song calls all to worship not in the rituals of sacrifices and offerings, but in the praise of the lips which God himself has made. The word “praise” occurs 38 times in Psalm135-149. In our assigned reading, we are called to praise God for his justice (146:7-9), for his goodness (147:8-9), for his salvation (148:14 – 149:4).

The psalms close with a crescendo in which the call to praise God occurs 13 times in the six verse of Psalm 150:

Praise the Lord!
Praise God in his sanctuary;
praise him in his mighty heavens!
Praise him for his mighty deeds;
praise him according to his excellent greatness!

Praise him with trumpet sound;
praise him with lute and harp!
Praise him with tambourine and dance;
praise him with strings and pipe!
Praise him with sounding cymbals;
praise him with loud clashing cymbals!
Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord!

“Through him [Christ] then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name” (Hebrews 13:15).

CONNECTIONS

1. We hear much today about “praise worship” in contrast to “regular worship” (or whatever term is used to contrast “praise worship” and non-praise worship. Do the psalms—especially the last 15—show that all worship is praise and that neither is confined to a building, no matter how grand the architecture?

2. After exhorting us to offer up the sacrifice of the fruit of our lips in praise to God, what other way can we offer up acceptable sacrifices of praise to God? (Hebrews 13:16)