Pure Praise – Psalm 150

by Chuck Gianotti | Psalms - Godly Emotions

¹Praise the Lord … ⁶Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord.

This psalm concludes the inspired biblical collection of one hundred and fifty psalms (also called poems, songs, or chapters). The six verses of Psalm 150 are saturated with thirteen calls to praise God. Like Psalms 146-149, it begins and ends with Hallelujah (“Praise the Lord”), the inspired bookends of high praise.

Praise does not out of a vacuum but comes emerges from a reason or cause. In this case, the reason is two overriding, all-encompassing truths about God: “His mighty deeds” and “His excellent greatness” (vs. 2). Since the Lord is the Creator God of the universe, all powers and authority are derived from Him and subservient to Him. He commands the powers of nature and moves nations and leaders. He is not limited in any way, as He said through the prophet: “Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh; is anything too difficult for Me?” (Jer. 32:27). All the activities and workings of the Lord are consistent with His greatness. He is excellent in every way, and the rest of the Bible shows us His greatness and actions in granular detail.

The psalm writer enjoins all of creation to loosen every constraint and limitation in praising God. He is to be praised anywhere and everywhere in the universe—in the sanctuary of corporate worship and in “His mighty expanse” (vs. 1). Our praise should resound with a symphony of robust and full-bodied musical expression (vss. 3-5, see Ps. 30:11, 149:3). All living and breathing souls are invited to participate in the climax of our created human purpose. If the Holy Spirit gives us, in the Book of Psalms, words to use in our worship and praise and to adopt as our own, and if it teaches us to validate godly emotions, then the crescendo culminating in Psalm 150 brings us to our highest praise. He is excellent and great in all He does and all He is. Our praise does not get any higher than that. The more we understand Him, the more His throne is elevated in our lives.

Hallelujah; Praise the Lord. I lift You up on the throne of my life and dedicate my whole being to making You known in all Your excellent greatness. Amen!

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