April 3
Reading: Psalm 150
1 Praise the LORD!
Praise God in his sanctuary;
praise him in his mighty heavens!
2 Praise him for his mighty deeds;
praise him according to his excellent greatness!
3 Praise him with trumpet sound;
praise him with lute and harp!
4 Praise him with tambourine and dance;
praise him with strings and pipe!
5 Praise him with sounding cymbals;
praise him with loud clashing cymbals!
6 Let everything that has breath praise the LORD!
Praise the LORD!
Psalm 150 is the conclusion of the Psalter and the last song in the Great Praise of Psalms 146-150. Like the other five in this last collection, it begins and ends with “Halleluia.”
There is no mistaking the main point of this final psalm. It is a command. Praise the Lord God. It has a simple structure. Praise Him where He is, in His heavenly sanctuary. (vs. 1) Praise Him for what He does and who He is. (vs. 2) Praise Him with everything we’ve got. (vss. 3-5) Everybody and everything should praise Him. (vs. 6) You get the point.
In Psalm 150 the Psalter ends with a bang! It ends loud. This whole psalm feels loud. Psalm 146 was a commitment to praise Yahweh. Psalm 147 gave us reasons to praise Him. Psalm 148 told all heaven and earth to praise Him. Psalm 149 showed us the pleasure in praising Him. In Psalm 150 we just get out all the instruments and make as much noise as we can in praising the Lord.
There is nothing as healthy for a human being to do than to praise God, our maker. Praise lifts our eyes off our circumstances and off ourselves and sets them on the one who is more glorious and good than anything else. It is the perfect application of Philippians 4:8.
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
Consider how the command to “be being filled with the Spirit” is explained in Ephesians 5:19-21.
…speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs; singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord; always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father; and being subject to one another in the fear of Christ.
Praise the Lord!