Praise in Song

Part 3

Psalms 148:1-14

Praise ye the LORD. Praise ye the LORD from the heavens:

praise him in the heights. Praise ye him, all his angels:

praise ye him, all his hosts. Praise ye him, sun and moon:

praise him, all ye stars of light.

Praise him, ye heavens of heavens,

and ye waters that be above the heavens.

Let them praise the name of the LORD:

for he commanded, and they were created.

He hath also stablished them for ever and ever:

he hath made a decree which shall not pass.

Praise the LORD from the earth, ye dragons, and all deeps:

Fire, and hail; snow, and vapour;

stormy wind fulfilling his word:

Mountains, and all hills; fruitful trees, and all cedars:

Beasts, and all cattle; creeping things,

and flying fowl: Kings of the earth, and all people;

princes, and all judges of the earth:

Both young men, and maidens;

old men, and children:

Let them praise the name of the LORD:

for his name alone is excellent;

his glory is above the earth and heaven.

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.

What a Psalm of praise!

I was interested to see all the things

that are told to praise the Lord, in this passage.

Notice that it's not only people that are to give praise?

We have mountains, trees, beasts, sun, moon,

angels, heavens, stars and the list goes on.

What an amazing God we serve that even

creation cries out in praise of Him.

Recently, Dave taught on joy in the Christian life

and the 'joy stealers' that try to rob us of our joy.

When we become a Christian, we have a new joy

that is a deep joy, not just a surface, superficial pleasure

that is only temporary. God wants us to have true joy. His joy.

John 15:11

These things have I spoken unto you,

that my joy might remain in you,

and that your joy might be full.

One of the ways to 'see' joy is in our praise

of God in song. How is it that so often we come

into God's house to worship Him and learn from His word,

and we sing songs of praise to Him with a sad face,

lacking expression, lacking joy?

We sing the words that tell of God's goodness,

and yet we sing them like we're reading a boring

lesson on physics or something.

Too often we are guilty of not really listening to the

words that we're singing. Some of the hymn writers of old

wrote the hymns we sing today in times of great distress.

A lot of the hymns were written after going through

a great trial. And yet, they were able to praise God

and write down a song of praise to Him

and sing of His goodness to them.

Many of our songs can be sung as a prayer to God,

thoughtful, meditative and sober. But there are others

that if you haven't come to church with your

'grumpy Sunday morning attitude', make you want

to shout “Praise God” in between the pauses!

(and believe me, it's come

bursting out of me a few times!)

There are many examples of the Israelites singing

in praise to God. One of the most well known songs

is what we know as the song of Moses.

Exodus 15:1

Then sang Moses and the children

of Israel this song unto the LORD,

and spake, saying, I will sing unto the LORD,

for he hath triumphed gloriously:

the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.

The Israelites joined Moses in praise and worship

of God in song after the crossing of the Red Sea.

They had seen great victory and their hearts were

overflowing with gratitude to God, so much so

that their voices cried out in praise!

Now, we might not have crossed a Red Sea, with

Pharaoh following hot on our heels, but there

are many circumstances in our lives that warrant

a joyful praise session, whether it be spoken

in prayer to God or sung to Him.

And I think that if your heart is right with God,

and you are continually focusing on God's goodness

to you as a poor wretched sinner, undeserving,

but justified and on your way to heaven,

praise should flow out of you almost involuntarily.

It's like a bubbling fountain that someone just poured

a bottle of bubble bath into, and now it's bubbling

everywhere and just won't stop!

(and yes, I've always wanted to try that)

Praise should continually be in our mouth.

If it's in your heart, it'll be in your mouth,

and if it's in your mouth, well, open it! And let it out!

Psalms 34:1

I will bless the LORD at all times:

his praise shall continually be in my mouth.

The building of Solomon's temple is another

great example of a time when God's people

got excited in praise and worship in response to God's providence.

2 Chronicles 5:11-14

And it came to pass, when the priests

were come out of the holy place:

(for all the priests that were present were sanctified,

and did not then wait by course: Also the Levites

which were the singers, all of them of Asaph,

of Heman, of Jeduthun, with their sons and their brethren,

being arrayed in white linen, having cymbals

and psalteries and harps, stood at the east end of the altar,

and with them an hundred and twenty priests

sounding with trumpets:)

It came even to pass, as the trumpeters

and singers were as one, to make one sound

to be heard in praising and thanking the LORD;

and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets

and cymbals and instruments of musick,

and praised the LORD, saying, For he is good;

for his mercy endureth for ever:

that then the house was filled with a cloud,

even the house of the LORD;

So that the priests

could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud:

for the glory of the LORD had filled the house of God.

Their worship was such sweet music to the Lord

that he filled the house with a cloud so the priests

could not even minister because of it.

The glory of the Lord had filled the house.

Oh that we could sing praise to God with such

a true, sincere heart of worship that He would fill

our house with His glory!

(And I love the part about the 120 trumpets!

But, more on musical instruments in a later post)

As I've mentioned before, there is so much

in the Bible on praise (248 times the word is recorded),

that I think God is trying to tell us something important.

Our purpose in life is to glorify Him,

and honour Him and love Him, and through

this, we are able to, with the Holy Spirit's help,

bring others to Him.

Psalms 86:12

I will praise thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart:

and I will glorify thy name for evermore.