We Made It to the End


Psalm 150
1Praise the Lord! Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens!
2Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his excellent greatness!
3Praise him with trumpet sound; praise him with lute and harp!
4Praise him with tambourine and dance; praise him with strings and pipe!
5Praise him with sounding cymbals; praise him with loud clashing cymbals!
6Let everything that has breath praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!

It has taken 171 Fridays spread out over four years to work our way through the entire book of Psalms. (There are 150 chapters, but we took 22 weeks for Psalm 119.) Some of the weeks were difficult as the writers (mostly David) gave honest voice to pain, struggle, and injustice. Some weeks were a little boring as the entire history of the Jewish people was recounted. But God’s Word in the Psalms has been rich indeed.

It is fitting that the Psalms should end with words of pure praise. The word “praise” literally means to shine; flash forth. The first and last “praise the Lord” sentences literally translate as “Flash Forth Yahweh”! Praise is an emotive and intense experience sometimes. Our words of praise cannot be contained, and so they “flash forth” out of our spirits. In these six brief verses, we are encouraged to flash forth with music – everywhere; in the sanctuary, in the heavens and dare I say, everywhere else as well.

The writer also gives us reason to flash forth the name of God; for His mighty deeds, for His greatness. We could spend all day declaring why the Lord is great. Just look outside for 2 minutes, or marvel at the workings of your own body. The Creator of all is indeed worthy of praise. Finally, the psalmist commands that everything praise the Lord. Everything – because He created it all. As I read these words over and over, I am reminded of a fairly new worship song, and I share a link with you here. It’s very powerful and I pray you will experience yet another reason to flash forth the name of Yahweh!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfVd5x9W1Xc

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