Who Can Praise the Lord?

Psalm 148

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanks for stoping by on this holiday!

On a day like today, we need to be clear on a couple of key things:

We have a lot to praise God for! (See previous posts for some of these.)
We are a part of the people that this praise is to come from.

For this second point, we’re going to look at Psalm 148. This Psalm answers one of the most fundamental questions about praise: Who should do the praising?

Who Should Praise?

A quick read through this psalm would yield a pretty long list of people and things that are to praise God. Including angels, the sun, moon, stars, oceans, elements of weather, geographical features, trees, animals, and people from every age and station of life are to praise the LORD.

To boil this down into one simple application: You are to praise the LORD.

The fact that nature Praises God should be a challenge to mankind.

“The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament sheweth his handywork.”
Psalm 19:1

The heavens and earth declare God’s glory and point to His character. Why shouldn’t I? Why shouldn’t you?

Why Should we Praise?

This psalm, like many others, gives a small sample of things we can praise God for. These are seen in two parts

God’s Act of Creation

5 Let them praise the name of the Lord: For he commanded, and they were created.
6 He hath also stablished them for ever and ever: He hath made a decree which shall not pass.
Psalm 148:5–6

God’s command was all that was needed to create all that we see in this world. What a Mighty God!

God’s Name and Glory

13 Let them praise the name of the Lord: 
For his name alone is excellent; 
His glory is above the earth and heaven. 
14 He also exalteth the horn of his people, 
The praise of all his saints; 
Even of the children of Israel, a people near unto him. 
Praise ye the Lord. 
Psalm 148:13–14

The more we know about God’s name and glory the more natural praise becomes. His name and glory are unmatched, and yet He exalts His people (specifically Israel in this context.)

Your Turn

“Praise ye the LORD.”

This statement, this command begins and ends Psalm 148.

Take it to heart. If the rocks and trees, the birds and flowers are praising God right now can’t you?

“Praise ye the LORD.”

Praise Today!

Psalm 95

We have many reasons to praise God: His Love, Holiness, Justice, and Peace are enough to keep us occupied in praise. Then when we think of all the things He does for us, how could we do anything but praise Him? But it’s possible.

Sometimes in spite of the abundance of God’s grace, we fail to kneel in humble worship or stand and lift our voices in praise.

This is what on the mind of the writer of Psalm 95. This psalm is a call to come to God in worship.

“1 O come, let us sing unto the Lord: Let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. 
2 Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, And make a joyful noise unto him with psalms.” 
Psalm 95:1-2

Reasons for Praise

As ever, there are are a multitude of reasons to praise God. The psalmist gives us these as reasons to praise God:

“3 For the Lord is a great God, And a great King above all gods. 
4 In his hand are the deep places of the earth: The strength of the hills is his also. 
5 The sea is his, and he made it: And his hands formed the dry land.” 
Psalm 95:3-5

Invitation to Praise

The psalmist then gives an invitation to praise:

“6 O come, let us worship and bow down: Let us kneel before the Lord our maker. 
7 For he is our God; And we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand…” 
Psalm 95:6-7a

This invitation is simple, “Come and worship!”

With all that God has been seen to be and all that He has done this should be the natural response, and for anyone that may not be sure what to do the invitation includes some basic instructions: “worship,” “kneel,” and ”bow down.” This is worship in humility.

Caution Against Hardening Their Hearts

But there is a concern in his mind as he pens these words. Concern for those who may not accept this invitation.

“…To day if ye will hear his voice, 
8 Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, And as in the day of temptation in the wilderness: 9 When your fathers tempted me, Proved me, and saw my work. 
10 Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, And said, It is a people that do err in their heart, And they have not known my ways: 
11 Unto whom I sware in my wrath That they should not enter into my rest.” 
Psalm 95:7b-11

Israel had rejected God. He knew their history. God had cared for them in their journey from Egypt to the promised land, but at the entrance to the promised land, they gave into fear and rejected God’s invitation of victory and rest. That whole generation wandered in the wilderness for the rest of their lives and after their death, their children claimed God’s victory.

Application

You and I will find ourselves in different circumstances than these Israelites. However, the truth remains. We may only have today to praise God. We may only have today to walk in faith and not in fear.

Choosing to not praise God for the great things He has done is dangerous. In not praising Him we harden our hearts to the great, faith-building things Has done for us.

Your Turn

Today!

Don’t miss the importance of today. How will you worship and praise God today? How will you choose faith over fear today?

Take up this invitation to worship TODAY.

Get down on your knees and worship God for Who He Is and for all He does.

Then get up and give your voice to praise Him. This doesn’t have to be in a goofy way: tell a family member or friend about some of the ways God has blessed you. Humbly give God all the credit He deserves.

Share this post with others as a reminder of the invitation to Praise and Worship God.

The Lord Reigns Supreme

Psalm 93

Ever notice that nothing lasts very long?

You may be noticing the days are getting shorter and colder. That won’t last. Here, in a few months, the days will be noticeably longer and warmer.

We see changes in people as well. We all get older, eventually, we will all pass away. Our friend circles change as we go through life. New ones come, we enjoy their fellowship, others will move away.

For all that is temporary and changeable in this life, we can be sure of a few things never changing. Psalm 93 highlights some of these things, giving us some great reasons to Praise God.

The Lord Reigns

“The Lord reigneth, he is clothed with majesty; 
The Lord is clothed with strength, wherewith he hath girded himself: 
The world also is stablished, that it cannot be moved.” 
Psalm 93:1

Don’t pass by the statement “The Lord reigneth” too quickly.

God is in charge. He is on His throne. He is dressed in the royal, divine garments of majesty and strength. He made the world over which He is the supreme ruler.

This verse is a constant source of strength for those who look to God for true leadership. While we get bogged down in “office drama”, church business, and political elections; God is in charge of everything.

The Lord will Reign Forever

“Thy throne is established of old: 
Thou art from everlasting.” 
Psalm 93:2

God’s throne, His right to rule was established “of old” He is from “everlasting.” God doesn’t belong to our time, He created time. While we view things in a matter of days, months, and years; God sees all of eternity and is on His throne ruling over it all.

Verse 2 may properly fall with verse 1 in a breakdown of the passage. I wanted to separate it to emphasize: God will reign FOREVER.

The Peoples of the Earth Cannot Dethrone God

3 The floods have lifted up, O Lord, 
The floods have lifted up their voice; 
The floods lift up their waves. 
4 The Lord on high is mightier 
Than the noise of many waters, 
Yea, than the mighty waves of the sea. 
Psalm 93:3–4

The concept of floods, waters, and waves is used in Biblical poetry to signify the nations of men. The number of people in a nation or the count of an army was a sign of strength and prestige. There are many battles in history where the victor was simply the side that had more troops.

God is not impressed by the numbers of men. He made them, and values each and every life, but they can do nothing to dethrone Him.

Even in our own lives, our efforts to depose God from His place of supreme authority will fail.

We can be Sure of God’s Word

“Thy testimonies are very sure: 
Holiness becometh thine house, O Lord, for ever.” 
Psalm 93:5

The testimonies, the written record of God’s work with men, are very sure. This is a great thought to end such a victorious Psalm. Now that we know God’s eternal, majestic, supreme rule why would we not want to know Him? We learn of His character in His Word.

Your Turn

Consider

Take a minute to think through the areas of your life where you feel you’ve lost control. This can be hard. Be honest. Write down what you find.

Pray

Turn these things over to the ruler of the universe. You may not be able to do this all at once but remember: God is already in charge of all creation, you can trust Him in these areas.

Learn

Seek God in His word. I love how the Psalms give a picture of God’s interactions with men. They speak in emotional terms that can sometimes more easily connect with our hearts. Begin by reading this Psalm, then start at the beginning, and with every verse and page look for Who God is. It won’t be hard to find.

Praise

Take a minute to praise God for being the supreme ruler of the universe.

Commit to Praise The LORD

Psalm 145

There are times when I feel more like praising God than other times. I may see an answer to prayer and be immediately called to praise by the greatness God has shown me. Or I may be having a “Monday.” You know, not a bad day, but not a day that makes you jump out of your skin with praise for the Almighty.

This Psalm of Praise caught my attention. God’s people have a reason to praise every day, whether we feel like it or not. This the last of the Psalms attributed to David. It’s almost like this Psalm was a Hymn expressing the training in praise that David had gone through.

Training helps us to carry out important tasks with excellence. Training helps us to plan ahead, and decide in advance how we will act and respond. This psalm will help us to “train” for this praise.

I hope you aren’t new to praise, but new or not I’m going to try and approach this subject very simply. We all need to be reminded of the basics once in a while.

David’s Commitment to Praise God (v. 1-2)

“1 I will extol thee, my God, O king; 
And I will bless thy name for ever and ever. 
2 Every day will I bless thee; 
And I will praise thy name for ever and ever.” 
Psalm 145:1–2

“Extol” means to lift up. David is committing to lift up his God. How will he do this? By blessing God’s name, and praising Him.

This was David’s commitment. Will you make it your commitment, today?

God’s Attributes are a Motivation of this Praise (v. 3-13)

David praises God first for all the things that God IS.

Whether we feel like praising God or not, God’s attributes are reason enough to praise Him. An attribute is a quality or characteristic part of someone. These are the character traits or dispositions that are indistinguishable from who the person is.

What Attributes of God are mentioned in these verses? Take a few minutes, read this Psalm, and write down all the attributes of God that you see in it. (You’ll see my list below. Writing your own will help you in the process of training to Praise God.)

Here are the Attributes I saw and wrote down when I was reading through this Psalm a few weeks ago:

Greatness
Might (“mighty acts”)
Goodness
Righteousness
Compassion
Mercy
Power
Everlasting (He has no beginning or end.)

How God Meets Needs is a Motivation for Praise (v. 14-20)

There are things that God does for us that we can and should praise Him for. This section covers some general segments of these.

God supports those who are weak and raises up those who are getting weak. v. 14
God supplies the needs of all. v.15-16
The LORD is near to those who call on Him. v.18
- What a blessing to know that God is near! Often on days when I don’t feel like praising God, I have also lost sight of how near He is.
He will fulfill and deliver those who fear Him. v.19
The LORD will preserve those that love Him, He will also destroy the wicked. v.20

Final Commitment to Praise (v. 21)

“My mouth shall speak the praise of the Lord: 
And let all flesh bless his holy name for ever and ever.” 
Psalm 145:21

David closes the Psalm by reiterating his commitment to Praise God, and a call for all to Praise God.

Your Turn

Read Psalm 145

Note all the ways that David praises God.

Make a list of God’s attributes.

Begin a list of how God is working in your life.

Plan ahead to praise God. He is worthy, whether we feel like it or not.

Share with family, friends and social media some of the things for which you are praising God.