Psalm 150 is a closing hymn of praise. God’s creation praises him everywhere and in every way. And we should join this incredible song of praise! Listen:
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! – Psalm 150:1-6 (NLT)
Folks, the greatest truth about God—as we look at the Psalms—is that He is worthy of our praise and our worship! And the greatest truth about ourselves is that we have been created to worship Him! It’s in our blood; it’s in our human DNA—the desire & the need to worship God! And, when we actually do this … we end up finding the very purpose of our lives as human beings… THIS IS WHAT WE WERE CREATED FOR!
Since we have this inner need &/or desire to worship, the truth is that if we don’t worship God … we will worship someone else or something else in our lives! What we worship, you see, is what takes top priority in our lives. But, the psalmist is always careful to point us to the living God, encouraging us to praise and worship Him alone…
C.S. Lewis once said, “I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment. It is not out of compliment that lovers keep on telling one another how beautiful they are; the delight is incomplete till it is expressed.”
And the same is true in worshiping God! The enjoyment of knowing God, loving God, being in relationship with God … is not complete until we worship Him! And, folks, here’s how the psalmist instructs us to do it today…
PRAISE GOD IN AND FOR (EVERYWHERE & FOR EVERYTHING)… Verses 1-2 again tell us, “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!” So, praise God everywhere you can… Praise God in his sanctuary. Praise God in his mighty heaven. Praise God for everything you can… Praise God for his mighty works. Praise God for his unequalled greatness. Then…
PRAISE GOD WITH (EVERY WAY)… Verses 3-5 say: “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.” Praise God every way you can…
- A blast of the ram’s horn (horns of all kinds). This is what we experience every time Jan & Dave & Terry (and Dan) … lead us in worship—as we do at Easter—with horns of all kinds…
- Lyre and harp (stringed instruments). This would be our Jeff Athey, the string-playing members of our praise band, etc.
- The tambourine and … dancing! I’ll never forget back in the 80s, when liturgical dance came to my home church in Neenah—again, back in the 80s…
There was a woman who began coming to my home church, Faith United Methodist Church in Neenah, Wisconsin, and the gift she brought to that congregation was … DANCE. You see, Gigi Bohawk taught dance; that was the gift God had given her. How could she give this gift back to God in a very meaningful, very sincere way? She went to the pastor and asked if she could put together a dance team for worship—liturgical dance, it was called. And she did…
Were there some eyebrows raised the first time she added ‘liturgical dance’ to the songs of worship? Absolutely… But, it was done purely out of love for God … and the church continued to grow…
King David liked dancing … apparently. He wrote about it. And, scripture tells us that he did it. He danced … for the Lord. And, to him, it was a part of his worship experience… So, praise God with tambourine and dancing…
- Strings and flutes (woodwinds). So, here the woodwinds come in … Dan’s saxophone, Cathy’s flute, and so forth… Are you getting the picture here? We can praise every way we can … as long as it’s God’s Spirit of Love behind the worship—love for God being the motivation…
- A clash of cymbals—loud, clanging cymbals! Ah … this is for Rem! And, most drummers absolutely love this part… Not just ‘cymbals,’ but LOUD, CLANGING CYMBALS! …which could also be translated as … BELLS (a percussion instrument that is struck)! And, here’s something else you need to know…
Music, folks, is the GATEWAY to worship! We need to understand this truth; God has given the gift of music so that our hearts can be prepared to worship him—to receive his word to us, and so forth… Again, as the psalmist writes … everything we have can be used for God—can be used to bring God glory, to worship Him, and to praise Him! By the way…
There is no such thing as a ‘sacred instrument’; did you know that? Sometimes, we get that idea in our heads, but even our beloved organ was once used in places that we wouldn’t even want to talk about in this place! It is always the Spirit that is allowed to live in the musician that makes whatever instrument that’s played … sacred or holy… Again, it’s the spirit of the one playing the instrument that makes the real difference! Do they know Christ personally and have they allowed the Spirit of Christ to fill them and transform their life, including their playing? For musicians in the Church, they not only need to be practiced up; they also need to be—and maybe more importantly—prayed up!
Once again, v. 6 says: “Let everything [italics mine] that breathes sing praises to the LORD! Praise the LORD!” How could the message be more clear? The psalmist has told us to praise God, in no uncertain terms! It’s a direct encouragement for you and I to praise God too. Remember to praise him every day!
And, folks, remember the place of music among us; it is the gateway to worship—God’s way of preparing our hearts to meet Him—to worship Him… ‘Just don’t feel like worshiping God some days? Have you listened to the music? If you listen to the right stuff (and I’m not talking musical style here), you will always be pointed in God’s direction. Let’s thank God for the incredible gift of music right now… Would you join me?