1 Praise ye the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary: praise him in the firmament of his power.
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 psaltery and harp.
4 Praise him with the timbrel and dance: praise him with stringed instruments and organs.
5 Praise him upon the loud cymbals: praise him upon the high sounding cymbals.
6 Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord.
This is a pure praise psalm, with no other purpose but to praise God with twelve phrases in six short verses.
We have reached a fitting end to the book of Psalms in this last psalm: with a crescendo of praise. The theme of this psalm increases in emphasis with each repetition, and we can hear the volume increasing with each of these twelve phrases of praise. Our hearts fill up with a holy pride, exaltation, glory, and delight over the God we worship. We desire to “make His praise glorious” through this great finale.
Verse 1
Twelve times, we cry out to ourselves and to anybody who may be in our vicinity: “Praise the Lord with me!” This repetition implies that there can never be an ending to the praise of the Lord our God. In John’s revelation, we read of the four living creatures who never rest in their praise: “They rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come” (Rev. 4:8). This worship will continue into eternity because it is absolutely fitting, and a cessation of it would constitute the ultimate sacrilege. Thus, this psalm is a precursor to the heavenly and eternal praise we will witness at the final resurrection.
This verse introduces two contexts in which the praise takes place—in the “sanctuary” and the “firmament of His power.” As we raise these praises, these settings are presented to our view. The sanctuary is the holy place where He dwells. In the Old Testament, it is the holiest of holies. In New Testament worship, it is the assembly of God’s people where Christ is present.
“Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; and having an high priest over the house of God; let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.” (Heb. 10:19-21)
The place itself renders a special awe in us, as we consider the precious, holy blood of Jesus that makes a way for sinners into the presence of God! We are overcome by the holiness of God in this place, but we are also overcome as we consider the expanse of His power. Here we have a view of the Lord’s power as we rise up to look upon the created universe. The mere view of the earth from 25,000 feet in an airplane is enough to take your breath away. To see our sun as a tiny dot in the Milky Way galaxy is a billion times more impressive. Then, to consider that our galaxy is negligible in the scheme of the universe gives us something of a view of God’s infinite power. Thus, our setting and view prepares us for the remainder of this mighty song of praise.
Verse 2
The second verse gives us more reason for praise. Our God has no need for mindless praise, so it is right that our minds be given some basis for worship. Therefore, in this particular psalm we are praising Him for 1.) His mighty acts, and 2.) His excellent greatness. Always, the reason for our praise and worship will be either based in God’s nature or His works.
There is no ending to the study of God’s wisdom and power in creation and providence. Man is incapable of understanding the basic building blocks of matter and life—the atom and the cell. We cannot plum the depths of His creation. We cannot reverse-engineer the complexities of life. If we cannot find the mighty works of God sufficient to drive us to our knees, we must be blinded by either gross ignorance or pride. But what about God’s redemption and the mysteries of divine love? Even the angels have desired to look into the gloriousness of the incarnation, the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that followed (1 Pet. 1:12). If the angels are enthralled by this work of God, what shall our response be to it?
God is greater, in every respect, than everybody and everything else in existence. We cannot configure something greater than God. The cults that attempt it demonstrate the finitude and defectiveness of their systems. He is the great I AM, and He has never been and never will be the “I WILL BE” or “I WAS.” His existence is absolute, eternal, and unchangeable. His attributes of power, wisdom, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth are infinite and absolute as well. There is no limitation or imperfection in God, in any respect. He is only prevented from limiting himself. He cannot succumb to imperfection. There is nothing more profound in the entire realm of reality than God Himself. Therefore, He is worthy of our study, our devotion, and our worship.
Verses 3-6
Having looked at the context and reason for this worship, the remainder of the psalm calls for praise using every mode of music available to man—musical instruments, vocals, and dance. The praise of God must be the primary use for music. Should music be used solely to glorify man and his interests, human culture will corrupt and degrade. This is the legacy of the popular music produced in the last two generations. The beginning of knowledge in the music classroom must be the fear of the Lord, and the worship of God must be the end of it.
Musical instruments accompany and evoke human emotions either rightly or wrongly, for a good cause or a bad cause. Music can makes us happy, sad, or excited. The highest purpose to which the human emotions of reverence, adoration, love, and rejoicing are employed must be in relationship to God our Creator and Redeemer. Therefore, music should be used to this end.
Music aids us in our worship, but true praise must begin in our hearts. We must first receive the good news, as we watch the Red Sea waters roll back on to the armies of Egypt. We must first thrill at the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, that He has beaten sin and death at the cross. Then and only then, do we have reasons to celebrate. This special celebratory music demands the full accompaniment of trumpets, harps, timbrels, stringed instruments, organs, and cymbals. We call the whole orchestra to the purpose of praising God. There must be no question as to the purpose of the music. The words used in music should be understood by all, so that we do not miss the purpose for the music. We have no interest in humanist classical music played to the glory of man—none. We need everybody and every instrument praising the Lord in the hall.
Verse six includes the voices of every living person. This is not an instrumental piece. It is a choral number, and every person in the room is called to join in the choir, praising our God together.
PRAISE YE THE LORD!
Instrumental music is part of Christian worship. Also, psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs must be a daily part of the Christian life, the Christian family, and the Christian home. While not everybody may be able to play a musical instrument, the Bible teaches that all should sing. We should therefore teach our children to sing,and it would be helpful if every home had some musical accompaniment. Practically every day, we should hear the psalms and hymns sung with gusto in the Christian home. This is just what Christians do (Eph. 5:19).
Unless music is taught for the major purpose of worshiping God, our children will develop the wrong perspective of it. So much of music is wasted on the glory of man, on corrupting emotional allegiances, on immoral and worldly lusts, on vain and immature triteness, and on modern destructive ideas that advocate chaos, meaninglessness, and nihilism. Music programs in modern colleges are extremely dangerous in that they do not teach the beginning of knowledge as the fear of God. These humanist systems are sure to fail, because they do not worship God “in His sanctuary and in the firmament of His power.”
The business of the Christian church is actually very simple. We come into worship first to be reminded of more reasons to praise God, and then we praise Him. As we enter worship on a Sunday morning, we lean forward, asking, as it were, “Would you give me another reason to worship God?” Sometimes we find new reasons, and sometimes we hone old reasons by clarifying our understanding of God’s creation and His redemption.
There are times in which we must focus upon worshiping God, and nothing else. This psalm may be used to that end. As we sing this psalm, we dedicate ourselves fully to God’s praise and worship. Our greatest crescendos, our greatest joy, and our greatest experiences in worship occur when our hearts rise to this praise for our God.
1. How many times do we “praise the Lord” in this psalm?
2. What are the two contexts from which we issue our praise (in verse 1)?
3. What are the two things about God for which we praise Him (in verse 2)?
4. What are the modes by which we are encouraged to praise the Lord in the last verses of the psalm?
5. How can music be used for good or for evil? What is the highest good for which we may employ our music?
1. How have we used music in our family? Have we viewed music primarily as a means by which we praise the Lord and thank the Lord?
2. Where does true praise begin for you? What are the works of God, or the teachings from Scripture, that are most inspirational in helping you to praise?