LET
ME BE SINGING
READ:
Psalm
150
Let
everything that has breath
Praise
the LORD. –Psalm 150:6
When I asked a friend how his mother was
getting along, he told me that dementia had robbed her of the ability to
remember a great many names and events from the past. “Even so,” he added, “she can still sit down at the piano and,
without sheet music, beautifully play hymns by memory.”
Plato and Aristotle wrote about the
helping, healing power of music 2,500 years ago. But centuries before that, the biblical
record was saturated with song.
From the first mention of Jubal, “the father of all those who play the harp
and flute” (Genesis 4:21), to those who “sing the song of Moses, the servant of God and the song of the Lamb” (Revelation 15:3), the pages of the Bible resonate with
music. The Psalms, often called “the
Bible’s songbook,” point us to the love and faithfulness of God. They conclude with an unending call to
worship, “Let everything that has breath
praise the Lord. Praise the LORD!” (Psalm 150:6).
Today we need God’s ministry of music in
our hearts as much as any time in history.
Whatever each day brings, may the evening find us singing, “To You, O my Strength, I will sing praises;
for God is my defense, my God of mercy” (59:17).
–David McCasland
Lord,
I don’t know what will come this day or
Farther
into the future, but I’m grateful that You’re
By
my side. Grant me a spirit of praise and
Thanksgiving
in whatever lies ahead.
******************************************
Praise
to God comes naturally
When
you count your blessings.
INSIGHT
The
last five songs of Israel’s hymnbook are also known as Hallelujah Psalms,
because each of them (Psalms 146-150) begins and ends with the refrain “Praise
the LORD” (Hebrew Hallelujah). Psalm 150
answers three important questions: Who
should praise God? (vv.1,6). Why should
God be praised? (v.2). How is He to be
praised? (vv.3-5). The psalmist calls on
“everything that has breath” to worship God (v.6)-including creatures on earth
and angels in the heavens (v.1). We
should praise God for what He has done (“His mighty acts” v.2) and for who He
is (“His excellent greatness” v.2). We
are to praise Him with our voices, with the accompaniment of all kinds of
instruments, and with dancing (vv.3-6). “Let
everything that has breath praise the LORD” (v.6) is indeed a fitting final
doxology to God.
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