IF YOU ARE BREATHING
Psalms 150:1-6 NKJV
1 Praise the Lord!
Praise God in His sanctuary;
Praise Him in His mighty firmament!
2 Praise Him for His mighty acts;
Praise Him according to His excellent greatness!
3 Praise Him with the sound of the trumpet;
Praise Him with the lute and harp!
4 Praise Him with the timbrel and dance;
Praise Him with stringed instruments and flutes!
5 Praise Him with loud cymbals;
Praise Him with clashing cymbals!
6 Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.
Praise the Lord!
It's not often that we get to do a devotional on an entire chapter, but this last psalm of the book is worth the time. And the last verse sums up the entire psalm. "Let everything that has breath praise the Lord."
This is a great way to end the book of Psalms, with praise to God. Starting with the place where God lives in His sanctuary and in His mighty expanse. I can only imagine that His sanctuary is massive and awe-inspiring. The book of Revelation speaks of God's throne room. And God's mighty expanse is translated as the expanse of heaven. I know that I desire greater insight into just how big our God is. The expanse of heaven is beyond the mind's capacity to fully grasp. But remember, we serve a God who can do way above what we ask or think. I believe when we arrive in heaven, we are going to shake our heads at its expanse and beauty and say to ourselves, "If I had only known just how big and great God is."
Praise God for His mighty acts and excellent, abundant greatness. His mighty acts would certainly include our salvation that He purchased with the life of His Son Jesus. His mighty acts and abundant greatness for sending the Holy Spirit to be our helper and guide. His mighty acts and abundant greatness for the things large and small that God has done for us. He is a mighty God and does mighty things.
The Psalmist then shifts gears and begins to offer ways we can praise God: trumpets, harps, stringed instruments, tambourines, my least favorite instrument, and loud cymbals and dance. We do not dance as much in our Western culture, but the bottom line is that we can express our praise to God in different ways. And as a side thought, verse five says the cymbals were loud. Just reading from the Bible.
Verse six encourages everything that has breathe to praise the Lord. So, as a good rule of thumb if we are breathing, we should also be praising. And our praise is meant to be more than purely situational. We can praise in our daily lives as well as when we come to church. Praising God for His greatness and His power is a great way to connect our hearts and minds to Him. Most everything in our lives does not support giving praise to God. Church will, but typically, our jobs and the routines of life do not inspire praise. So we have to be intentional. In Hebrews 13:15, the writer encourages us to offer the sacrifice of praise with our mouths, giving thanks to the Lord. Things that are easy are not sacrifices.
So, as we take some good deep breaths today, when we exhale, let's on purpose offer praise and thanks to our great God and Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!