Category: Praise the Lord

Psalm 66:4                                                                 Is It Still there?

“All the earth worships Thee; they sing praises to Thee; sing praises to Thy name” (RSV).

 

This sign was there at the Grand Canyon sixty years ago.  I wonder, is it still there?  The Scripture is still true: “All the earth worships thee; they sing praises to Thee; sing praises to They name.”  All the earth does worship the Lord.  It’s only the people who have stopped singing praises to His name.  Just look around and observe the earth still singing the praises of the Creator.  He has created fantastic beauty.  Just feet away from this sign is one of the views that people from all over the world travel thousands of miles to see—the Grand Canyon.  Okay, not all the people have stopped singing praise to Him.  There are still many millions on this earth who appreciate the beauty that God has created, and they worship and praise Him for it.

When Jesus was entering Jerusalem on what we call Palm Sunday, the people were saying in Luke 20:38, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!  Peace in heaven and glory in the highest” (NKJV).  The Pharisees told Jesus to stop the people from saying such things.  His answer, in verse 40 was,”…I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out” (NKJV).  I wonder if that would happen today.  Would the rocks cry out?  They do to me.  They speak of the glory of God in all their myriad shapes, colors, and composition.  But I am not going to wait for the rocks to cry out.  “Praise the Lord for He is good!”  Won’t you join me today and praise the Lord out loud where people can hear you?  Jesus speaks to the Father on our behalf.  We can certainly speak to the world on His behalf.  Let’s do it.  Let’s praise the Lord out loud every day.

Psalm 148                                                        Praise the Lord!

“Praise the Lord from the heavens; praise him in the heights above.  Praise him, all his angels; praise him, all his heavenly hosts.  Praise him sun and moon; praise him, all you shining stars.  Praise him, you highest heavens and you waters above the skies.  Let them praise the name of the Lord, for at his command they were created, and he established them forever and ever—he issues a decree that will never pass away.  Praise the Lord from the earth, you great sea creature and all ocean depths. Lightning and hail, snow and clouds. Stormy winds that do his bidding, you mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars, wild animals and all cattle, small creatures and flying birds, kings of the earth and all nations, you princes and all rulers on earth, young men and women, old men and children.  Let them praise the name of the Lord, for his name alone is exalted; his splendor is above the earth and the heavens.  And he has raised up for his people a horn, the praise of all his faithful servants, of Israel, the people close to his heart.  Praise the Lord” (NIV).

What else is there to say?  PRAISE THE LORD!!!   EVERYDAY!!!

Psalm 150                                                             Praise the Lord!

“Hallelujah!

Praise God in His holy house of worship, praise him under the open skies;

Praise him for his acts of power, praise him for his magnificent greatness;

Praise with a blast on the trumpet, praise by strumming soft strings;

Praise him with castanets and dance, praise him with banjo and flute;

Praise him with cymbals and a big bass drum, praise him with fiddles and mandolin.

Let every living, breathing creature praise God!

Hallelujah!” (MSG)

 

The Psalmist certainly got it right.  Praise the Lord—everywhere in every way!  “Praise the Lord” are words found frequently in the Psalms.  Often David ends up praising the Lord after the beginning of the Psalm is full of complaints.  Maybe that’s why God said that David was a man after His heart.  He always came back to trusting and praising God.

 

“Praise the Lord” is appropriate any time, but especially during this time of year when we commemorate the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus!  It is to His glory and our salvation that we can say, “Thank you, Jesus” and “Praise the Lord.”  Because of Jesus, we are assured of an eternity with Him.  I’ll say it again, PRAISE THE LORD!

 

Psalm 71:8                                                                     I Lift My Voice

“My mouth is filled with your praise, declaring your splendor all day long” (NIV).

 

One of my favorite places to rest, relax, and praise the Lord, sometimes aloud and sometimes quietly, is by the banks of a river or stream.  My spirits are lifted to a higher level when I can see the water flow by and hear the rush of the stream.  If there is a waterfall, my enjoyment is even better.  When I took this particular picture in Ohiopyle, PA, I got to enjoy the rush of the waterfall, the ripple of the river, the beauty of the trees, and the vastness of the sky.  So much of God’s creation was right there in front of me to remind me of the Creator of the universe.  Seeing it now makes me think of the praise song, I Love You, Lord.  “I love you, Lord, and I lift my voice to worship you.  O, my soul, rejoice.  Take joy my King in what You hear.  May it be a sweet, sweet sound in your ear.”  It’s a simple and short chorus, but it expresses my feelings well when I am enjoying the greatness of His creation.  My soul does rejoice whenever I lift my voice to sing to Him, and I want my Lord to take joy in it also.  I know that He created us for fellowship, and He yearns to hear our voices and to experience the lifting of our hearts to Him in song.  It doesn’t matter to God whether the singer has the velvet tones of Bing Crosby the rasping voice of Willie Nelson, or the voice of one who “can’t carry a tune in a bucket.”  One doesn’t even have to sing to give God joy;  just speaking His name or spending time in prayer will bring Him pleasure, also.  I know someone who because of a physical problem, cannot speak, but I am convinced that God takes great joy when she thinks of Him or sends her thoughts heavenward.  Communication from us to our Lord is always a “sweet, sweet sound in His ear.”  He even likes to hear our complaints, and He wants to know our questions and our concerns.  While our communication to God is most often aloud, His answers to us are very seldom aloud; they are most often received not with our ears, but with our spirits and our hearts.  We need to learn how to listen with our spirits and our hearts.  I have learned to recognize the knowing in my heart and the quickening in my spirit as the voice of the God of the universe who has taken note of me, and my heart rejoices in His presence.