Last week we focused on where praises are lifted to God — namely, we whom He has redeemed are to praise Him here below in His sanctuary, while the hosts of heaven praise Him above in His heavenly abode.
Returning to Psalm 150, the “hallelujah psalm,” this week, we consider what we praise Him for.
The second verse of our psalm declares we are to praise God for His mighty acts. When we begin thinking of the mighty acts of God, we might just take time to look around. If we do, our attention will at some point drift to His extensive creation.
As Creator of the heavenly bodies and nature’s beauty, as well as humans made in His own image, we see an almost endless array of reasons for which to praise God.
We exist in a mighty big universe that is filled with endless variety. It took a great God to plan it all and then bring it into existence.
All around
If we look up, we see a sun, a moon and innumerable stars that declare His glory. If we look down, we might see beautiful flowers that fill our world with beauty, as well as plants that serve as food. If we look around, we see an endless variety of fellow humans, none of whom are totally identical. Such looking gives us continuous cause to praise the Lord.
This second verse of Psalm 150 draws our attention to another object for our praise: His excellent greatness. The person and power of God are major objects that prompt praise. When we ponder the person of God, we focus on His attributes. Thus we properly are drawn to praise Him for His power, wisdom, compassion, love, faithfulness and longsuffering, and the list could go on and on.
Provider God
In this extensive list, we must always remember His work of redeeming sinful people. We praise God as the Provider of our salvation, a salvation that makes a mighty difference here and now, but also will go on making an eternal difference in heaven. For all of this to be possible, He provided a perfect sacrifice for our sins — His only begotten Son.
More down to earth, we praise God as the faithful Provider of life’s necessities, some of which we often take for granted — what about the very air we breathe or the food on our tables or the roof over our heads and the clothes on our backs?
In summary, the hallelujah psalm couples God’s mighty acts with His excellent greatness as the “what” for which we praise God.
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