“Let everything that has breath praise the LORD, Praise the LORD.”
~ Psalm 150:6
Hi James and Ellen,
Do you like to be praised? Do you do good things so that your ma and/or dad will praise you? What is praise? Praise is having your ma and/or dad or kid friend or teacher verbally applaud you for having done something good. You will be commended, lauded, praised or applauded by your ma and/or dad for getting good grades in school. It is not bad to be celebrated, acclaimed, extoled or approved for doing something well. It is innate in you to be kind to another kid. When you have been kind to another kid, it is something good that you have done. Are there are other good things that you might be doing – such as always doing your chores, eating all your food, keeping your room clean, which has your ma and/or dad telling you ‘good job’? Do you give praises? Praising another kid will show the kid that you care about him or her. Does God want to be praised? God wants to be praised. Praising God is different than being praised by your ma and/or dad. Words are used in all kinds of different ways. Praise is used differently when God is thought about when you would like to show or to express appreciation and thanks and when a guy, gal or kid is thought about. If a guy, gal or kid is given the same kind of praise which God is to get, that guy, gal or kid is being treated like a god, too. That is not good. There is only one true God. The one true God is the God Who you are to worship, adore and praise – because God wants to be worshipped, adored and praised by you. It is inherent in you that you want to revere, glorify and magnify God as you know that your hope can only come from Him.
How does God want to be venerated, adulated and honored? You are praised for doing good things or doing things well. God is to be praised for having done everything for you that needs to be done so that you can live a life that is filled with hope and peace. The Psalmists worshipped, adored and praised God through the poems and songs that they wrote. The last Psalm – which is the final great Hallelujah in the Psalm Book, is like every guy, gal and kid making the loudest and most beautiful sound possible together to praise God. The last Psalm in the Psalm Book is Psalm 150. This Psalm may have been written to be a refrain or chorus to be sung at the end of other Psalms. This Psalm was written for a choir to sing and an orchestra to play. Every guy, gal and kid who sang this Psalm would be praising God with a very loud sound – which God’s ears found really beautiful. Do you like to sing? Would you like to learn to play an instrument? Your grandmaa used to play the clarinet. Your grandpaa was once asked to sing in a church choir. Your grandmaa and grandpaa had gone to a friend’s house one New Year’s Eve. The choir director in the church where your grandmaa and grandpaa were members was also at this house. Your grandmaa and grandpaa were married in this church. Your ma and dad were also married in this church. The church’s choir director wanted more guys in the church’s choir. When the choir director asked your grandpaa to sing in the church’s choir, your grandpaa told the choir director that he could not sing. The choir director told your grandpaa that she thought that you grandpaa probably sang okay. The choir director sat down next to your grandpaa before the guys and gals at the New Year’s Eve party began singing the next song together. When all the guys and gals had finished singing the song, the choir director told the other guys and gals at the New Year’s Eve party to sing another song – but this time to sing the song off key so that the song could be sung in tune with your grandpaa’s voice. Your grandpaa was never asked again by the church’s choir director to sing in her choir. When your grandpaa was in high school, the high school age guys and gals in the church where your grandpaa’s dad and ma were members used to go every Sunday evening to sing songs in the hospital that is in Volga, South Dakota. A kid a couple years older than your grandpaa would always sing as loud as he could. It did not matter to Bob that he did not have a good voice; Bob just felt that it was important to sing as loud as he could as he felt that was how God wanted him to praise Him when he sang.
Where does God want to be praised? God wants to be praised everywhere. God wanted to be praised in His sanctuary which was in Jerusalem. God wants to be praised when groups of guys, gals and kids – who He elected before He created Earth, get together. God wants His angels praising Him. God wants to be praised for His power and greatness – which is incomparable. God wants to be praised with instruments – such as trumpets, harps, lyres, strings and flutes. God wants to be praised with dancing while tambourines and loud clashing, resounding cymbals are used. Verse 6 ends this Psalm saying “Let everything that has breath praise the LORD, Praise the LORD.” When your Aunt Lynn and Uncle Chris were here in Guatemala a couple of weeks ago, your Aunt Lynn and Uncle Chris participated in a church service in a small community called La Pintada. La Pinta is located on a river that is called Rio Dulce. The only way that you can get to La Pintada is by boat. Small dugout boats paddled by school aged kids on their way to and from their school can be seen at the same time a lunxerious yacht can be seen cruising down the Rio Dulce to wherever. Even though the guys and gals who are living in La Pintada do not have many possessions, the La Pintada Christ-followers have two electric guitars, a nice keyboard, and a set of drums. The instruments that the La Pintada Christ-followers were using were turned up very loud. Even though their singing did not sound that good, it did not stop the La Pintada Christ-follower guys, gals and kids from singing loud. What do you think that the feeling was like at the end of the church service? There was a sense of God having been worshipped, glorified and praised through the instruments played and songs sung by the La Pintada Christ-follower guys, gal and kids.
Psalm 150 (91)