Psalm 150

1 Praise the Lord! Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heaven! 2 Praise him for his mighty works; praise his unequaled greatness! 3 Praise him with a blast of the ram’s horn; praise him with the lyre and harp! 4 Praise him with the tambourine and dancing; praise him with strings and flutes! 5 Praise him with a clash of cymbals; praise him with loud clanging cymbals. 6 Let everything that breathes sing praises to the Lord! Praise the Lord!

The book of Psalms is a holy hymnbook of praise and as it concludes we see the priority of praise as the last five Psalms all begin with, “Praise the Lord.” For the psalmist, “praise the Lord” was an ecstatic expression of unbridled joy. In Psalm 150, in just six short verses, we see the phrase of praise 13 times, Praise is what starts every sentence. The word, “praise” is derived from a Latin word which means to prize. When we praise, we are expressing our approval by valuing that which has worth and merit. The word also means to “shine” or “make a show by celebrating.” To praise the Lord is to prize Him and celebrate Him as the only one worthy of glory and honor. Worship reveals our want for God, it is the act of offering ourselves over to Him. Worship is about we not me. It is an essential aspect of being a Christian, because it is more than just offering our praise and love it is offering our lives to God. Worship is a lifestyle that drives us to desire Jesus and Psalms 150 is not the drawing to a close of Psalms but the:

• Call to Praise – Verse 1

Worship is about ascribing worth and we have been called to lift up the name of God, to humble ourselves and adore Him. The problem is our preferences so we become centered on our selfishness. Today worship has become focused on what we like or what we want from worship. In our self-satisfying society it’s easy to fall into the “what’s in it for me worship” where we come to worship with our concerns and our cares. But the Psalmist reminds us that our focus should not be on our situation but His sanctuary. To praise means to applaud and lift up the name of God in His sanctuary, which means the scope of praise is more than a few songs on Sunday. Praise means recognizing God is present even in our problems because every place that we are is His sanctuary, we are never out of the presence of God. We are also called to praise Him in His mighty heaven, some translations interchange two other words for heavens, firmament and expanse. In essence, all three are attempting to describe the foundational formation of the universe the firmament. The firmament that great expanse holding the fabric of the heavens together, it is the power that stretches across the entire universe. The psalmist is not just saying that God is to be praised in heaven but in all of the cosmos. Every square inch of the universe has reason to resound with the praise of our almighty God.

• Cause of Praise – Verse 2

God has proven Himself over and over that He is worthy of our praise. Throughout history we see the evidence that God is worthy because He is faithful in His actions. He was the One who rescued and redeemed His people from bondage in Egypt. Who proved Himself when He poured out ten plagues on Egypt and parted the waters of the Red Sea. He supplied manna and separated the Jordan River. He caused the walls of Jericho to fall with a shout and came with salvation. Today would you take a moment to reflect and remember something that God has blessed you with over this last week. You do have cause to praise Him for the blessings in your life, your family, your forgiveness and the faithfulness of a loving heavenly Father. We are to praise Him for His unequaled greatness, a greatness that can’t be surpassed. The psalmist is literally saying that we need to praise God because even His greatness is great. His greatness is something so far above and beyond anything that we can comprehend that we simply cannot grasp it. My life is no more valuable than anyone else’s yet God brings His touch, His grace, His mercy, His love into my life daily. The problem with God’s generous gift of grace is that we are people who take Him for granted. If we stop to think about our salvation and all that God has done for us would we surrender to the song of praise?

Isaiah 12:1-5 – In that day you will sing: “I will praise you, O Lord! You were angry with me, but not anymore. Now you comfort me. 2 Surely God is my salvation I will trust in him and not be afraid. The Lord God is my strength and my song; he has given me victory.” 3 With joy you will drink deeply from the fountain of salvation! 4 In that wonderful day you will sing: “Thank the Lord! Praise his name! Tell the nations what he has done. Let them know how mighty he is! 5 Sing to the Lord, for he has done wonderful things.     Make known his praise around the world.

Our worship is our witness to the world and Isaiah reminds us that we can praise God because He is our:

• Salvation

Three times in verses, 1, 2 and 3 Isaiah references and reminds us of our salvation:

1 In that day you will sing: “I will praise you, O Lord! You were angry with me, but not anymore. Now you comfort me. 2 Surely God is my salvation. 3 With joy you will drink deeply from the fountain of salvation.

As Isaiah talks about salvation he starts with our sin and God’s righteous anger and the freedom that salvation brings. The result of salvation is that God’s anger is turned away from us and instead of condemnation we have comfort. In Psalm 103:8-12 King David helps us understand this, where he said: “The Lord is compassionate and merciful, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. 9 He will not constantly accuse us, nor remain angry forever. 10 He does not punish us for all our sins; he does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve. 11 For his unfailing love toward those who fear him is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth. 12 He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west.” Part of salvation is admitting the truth about ourselves and our sin. In Proverbs 20:9, King Solomon asked a wise question: “Who can say, ‘I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin?” The truth is that no one can say that. In Romans 3 Paul said “There is none righteous, no, not one” Because of sin the Holy God has a right to be angry with all of us yet His anger was turned away because of the sacrifice of the savior. We are sinners, so Jesus suffered on the cross so that we could have salvation. Often we fail to worship because we get focused on the symptoms of sin that surround us instead of the security of our Salvation. Today we need to stop and saturate ourselves with the reality of our salvation and what Jesus really did for us on the cross. Isaiah said “With joy you will drink deeply from the fountain of salvation” because being saturated with our Salvation is the only thing that will satisfy.

• Strength

Isaiah said that our Savior is the source of our strength. Today there are typically three places we turn when we look for strength and power: Money, Muscles and Minds.

Money, can you find strength in money? Not really, money may make life more manageable but money is not enough. Muscles, can you find your strength in your muscles? People power is puny and physical strength fades. Mind, can you find your strength in your mind? Even the sharpest mind falls short as we age it shrinks with disease, fatigue, and stress.

Pastor S.D. Gordon once told about an elderly Christian lady whose age began to take a terrible toll on her memory. She once knew much of the Bible by heart, but eventually only one part of one precious verse stayed with her. It was part of 2 Timothy 1:12, where Paul said: “I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day.” As time went on, even that brief portion of Scripture began to slip away. In her last days as she hovered near death, her loved ones noticed her lips moving. They bent down to see if she needed anything. And they heard her saying over and over the one word she remembered from the Bible, “Him, Him, Him.” She had lost most of her mental abilities, but she never lost Him. She still had all the strength because she had Him her Savior and strength. Today like Isaiah will you trust in Him and not be afraid because the Lord God is your strength?

• Song

Our Savior is our song and we need to praise Him in our prayers and praise Him to other people. The song of salvation is our witness of worship. The salvation and strength of our Savior is our song. Ponder with me these words by Pastor Shadrach Meshach Lockeridge from his famous six and a half minute description of Jesus Christ, known as “That’s my King!”

He’s God’s Son. He’s the sinner’s Savior; He’s the centerpiece of civilization. He supplies strength for the weak. . . He’s available for the tempted and the tried. He sympathizes and he sees. He guards and he guides…He’s the key to knowledge, He’s the wellspring of wisdom, He’s the doorway of deliverance, He’s the pathway of peace, He’s the roadway of righteousness, He’s the highway of holiness. He’s the gateway to glory. . . He’s the master of the mighty, He’s the captain of the conquerors, He’s the head of heroes, He’s the leader of the legislators, He’s the governor of the governors, He’s the Prince of princes, He’s the King of kings, He’s the Lord of lords.

Today are you singing the song of your salvation? Is your worship a witness to the world?