A Prayer of Praise


For Meditation (Ed Satterfield)

What is your first reaction to Psalm 150 and the command to praise? If you are like me, it does not bring immediate excitement but perhaps some guilt about how little this excites you. You may do like I do and compare this command to the expression you may have seen in other people who jovially say “Praise the Lord” a lot and it just does not feel genuine. It seems a cover up hypocrisy, a spiritual avoidance of honest awareness of what living is really like.

Psalms 146-150 end the Psalter with 5 Psalms called the Hallel psalms because the predominant words and theme are the call to speak “Hallelujah” to God. They call everyone, everywhere, with all their being and ability to praise Yahweh (the literal translation of Hallelujah). They confront my natural aversion to being a “Praise the Lord” kind of person. Psalm 150 presses me to ask why should I obey this command and how do I genuinely do it?

Praising God is a redemptive movement. When I praise God – and really mean it, I am expressing value and honor to Him. I am reversing the fall, reversing the curse. To honestly praise God, I must move to know Him, trust Him, and draw near to Him. It reverses the first sin of our own independent choice, devaluing and distrusting God’s presence and provision to supply life and meaning for myself apart from Him. Praise restores trust and acknowledgment of God’s presence and provision. It heals and renews us.

Praise moves us toward our eternal destiny. Once Jesus returns, He will create the new heavens and new earth. All pain, suffering, death, and darkness will end, and we will be freed from sin. Our life will be caught up in glory – God’s beauty and goodness on full display as well as humanity full demonstrating His image. It will be awesome! Our occupation will be to enjoy it and give constant expression to our full joy in praising God. This is our chief end – “to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.”

We will explore this more fully Sunday and will talk about how we praise when so much of life is pain and suffering. Read the following passages as well to hear the fuller witness of Scripture about our design and purpose to praise God.

1 Chronicles 29:10-14; Psalm 33:1-5; 37:1-5; Ephesians 1:3-14; Revelation 5:1-14; 19:1-8

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.