Just before the curtain falls, the entire orchestra comes to attention of the Conductor who will lead them to play even greater intricate melodies that bring all their abilities to bear in the performance. We know the best is yet to come when we begin to hear the transition being made in the music and tap our toes in response! We see and feel it as the pure melodies are played perfectly and harmoniously. The hairs on our being tingle and our eyes and ears are wide open to see what happens next for we know we coming to the end of a great song. Our minds become fully focused on the Conductor who has led each musician to play at their best, as one instrument, and now leads them all to the grand finale!
The music becomes even more powerful as all the instruments play their parts! We feel the slow rise that leads to a full crescendo of the masterpiece the musicians are conducted to play! We see the smile of pleasure on the Conductor’s face when all musicians play harmoniously with joy on their faces!
These thoughts come to mind as our last psalm is read—the song with only one goal—Let EVERYTHING that has breath praise the Lord! Psalm 150 is the Psalmist final call to praise God with all that is in us but it is purely directed to God! Read how the composer moves powerfully in stages from places to themes to orchestra to choir—all framed with Glorious Hallelujahs! We are going to read it twice; but even that is not enough to praise God for all He has done, is doing and will do in our lives!
There is not enough bandwidth in our world to proclaim all God has done. There is certainly not enough pages to fill of telling of His character along with His Story of Redemption. But this is a place to begin.
Praise God. No matter what is happening right now in our lives, praise God! Wherever you are, praise God. No matter what you’re feeling, praise God! No matter who you are with, praise God! No matter if it is a sunny or cloudy day, praise God! “Yet, will I trust Him”, writes Job, who was resolved to believe in the One and Only God. Praise God! Hallelujah!
Psalm 150, NIV
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.
Psalm 150, The Message
1-6 Hallelujah!
Praise God in his holy house of worship,
praise him under the open skies;
Praise him for his acts of power,
praise him for his magnificent greatness;
Praise with a blast on the trumpet,
praise by strumming soft strings;
Praise him with castanets and dance,
praise him with banjo and flute;
Praise him with cymbals and a big bass drum,
praise him with fiddles and mandolin.
Let every living, breathing creature praise God!
Hallelujah!
WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?
In everything, give God praise! Some psalms directed people to praise God. The final psalms of the book of Psalms were directed to Creator and Conductor, God! They begin and end with hallelujah, the Hebrew word for “Praise the Lord.”
Pure praise is an involuntary act from a soul who believes God and whose habit is praise for all things.
Max Lucado writes in reference to pure praise;
“The multitude, Matthew wrote, “were amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled made well, the lame walking and the blind seeing” (Mt 15:31).
Then Matthew, still the great economizer of words, gave us another phrase on which I wish he would have elaborated:
“They praised the God of Israel.”
I wonder how they did that? I feel more certain of what they didn’t do than of what they did do. I feel confident that they didn’t form a praise committee. I feel confident that they didn’t make any robes. I feel confident that they didn’t sit in rows and stare at the back of each other’s heads.
I doubt seriously if they wrote a creed on how they were to praise this God they had never before worshiped. I can’t picture them getting into an argument over technicalities. I doubt if they felt it had to be done indoors.
And I know they didn’t wait until the Sabbath to do it.
I can imagine throngs of people pushing and shoving. Wanting to get close. Not to request anything or demand anything, but just to say, “thank you.”
However they did it, they did it. And Jesus was touched, so touched that he insisted they stay for a meal before they left.
Worship is the “thank you” that refuses to be silenced.
We have tried to make a science out of worship. We can’t do that. We can’t do that any more than we can “sell love” or “negotiate peace.”
Worship is a voluntary act of gratitude offered by the saved to the Savior, by the healed to the Healer, and by the delivered to the Deliverer.” –Lucado, Encouraging Word Bible
Praise God from whom all blessings flow…praise Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Lord,
The last song in the book of psalms spoke to me with a crescendo of Your love, mercy, and grace. I hear the clanging of the cymbals and the last beat of the drums as the last Hallelujah was given in Psalm 150.
God, to you be all glory, honor, and praise. I will praise you as long as I have breath and tell of your wonderful, glorious, relentless, redeeming love. You are my Conductor and my focus is fixed on You.
In Jesus Name, Amen
