Reflecting on the Psalms: Chapter 150

Psalm 150

¹Praise ye the LORD. Praise God in his sanctuary: praise him in the firmament of his power.
 
²Praise him for his mighty acts: praise him according to his excellent greatness.
 
³Praise him with the sound of the trumpet: praise him with the psaltery and harp.
 
⁴Praise him with the timbrel and dance: praise him with stringed instruments and organs.
 
⁵Praise him upon the loud cymbals: praise him upon the high sounding cymbals.

⁶Let every thing that hath breath praise the LORD. Praise ye the LORD.

Chapter 150

I like Matthew Henry's insight on the first few verses, "We are here stirred up to praise God. Praise God for his sanctuary, and the privileges we enjoy by having it among us; praise him because of his power and glory in the firmament." I am reminded of times in church when the Holy Spirit has worked in the service and stirred up His people. I've talked about those before, so there's really no need to go into detail about that. I do praise Him for His mighty acts and for His greatness (v. 2), mostly in my private time with Him. I don't believe I need to be around others to get stirred up to praise God -- praising Him in my own time in the past has stirred me up, I guess as a result of getting choked up when praising Him. There has been a time or two when I praised Him aloud -- or out loud? -- in the past there was a time or two when I praised Him for His mighty acts and for His greatness, which is what I've been describing. In regards to verses 3-5, I talked about praising God with instruments when I reflected on chapter 149. I think, though, that instruments are not reuqired to praise Him and that praising Him for whatever is more intimate without instruments. I have breath and I praise Him for all the good things He does and I figure every one of His people do(es) remember to praise in the good and bad times. I like Henry's insight in regards to the book's ending, "Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord. Such is the very suitable end of a book inspired by the Spirit of God, written for the work of praise; a book which has supplied the songs of the church for more than three thousand years; a book which is quoted more frequently than any other by Christ and his apostles; a book which presents the loftiest ideas of God and his government, which is fitted to every state of human life, which sets forth every state of religious experience, and which bears simple and clear marks of its Divine origin." I don't have much to add to that, but I will do a conclusion to the Psalms for my next entry.

                                                Source used:

Henry, Matthew. "Concise Commentary on Psalms 150". "Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
on the Whole Bible". <http://www.searchgodsword.org/com/mhc-con/view.cgi?book=ps&chapter=150>.