Psalms 150

Psalms 150:1

Psalm 150: Praise the Lord!We have reached the grand finale. And what could be more appropriate than to find a short, pointed appeal for creation to find its true destiny in the worship of God? The Psalm answers four key questions on the subject of praise: Where, What, How and Who? The glory of God was the purpose of creation. Therefore man finds the central reason for his existence in praising the Lord. As it is so tersely stated in the Shorter Catechism, “The chief end of man is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.” 150:1 But where? We should praise Him in His sanctuary and in His mighty firmament, which is another way of saying everywhereon earth and in heaven. There is no place where worship is out of place. 150:2 And for what? For His mighty acts and according to His excellent greatness. In other words, we should praise Him for what He has done for us, and for who He is. But not only for His exceeding greatnessalso according to His exceeding greatness. It is a sin to be unenthusiastic in rehearsing the excellencies of our Creator and Redeemer. 150:3-5 How? With an orchestra of every kind of instrument. The trumpet with its martial, commanding notes. The lute with its dulcet, pastoral tones. The harp, gentle and sweet in its strains. The timbrel, festive and uninhibited in its accompaniment of the dance. Stringed instruments of all sorts, the cello, the bass viol, the violin, the mandolin, the guitarcapture every note and chord in the world of music to honor the Great King. Wind instrumentsthe flute, the oboe, the clarinetdon’t miss one in this great philharmonic extravaganza. And the percussion instruments, bless themespecially the crashing, clashing, ear-splitting cymbals, punctuating the anthem with loud amens. 150:6 But that brings us to the last question. Who? And the answer, of course, is, “Let everything that has breath praise the LORD.” The massed choir of all the voices of earth are given the cue to join in the loud, eternal burst of praise to God. Hallelujah! Praise the LORD!