All Creatures of Our God & King

Psalm 148

One of my favorite hymns is All Creatures of Our God & King. It is based on Psalm 148. The hymn is a call for all of creation to join with the saints in praising God. That is exactly what Psalm 148 does as well. It’s easily divided into three sections:

Everything in the heavens is commanded to praise the Lord (1-6).

Everything on earth is commanded to praise the Lord (7-12).

Praising God is the only reasonable response to Him (13-14).

1. Everything in the heavens is commanded to praise God (1-6).

“Heavens” is an important word. In Scripture there are three heavens. There is heaven, where God dwells. There are the heavens where the planets are. There are the heavens where we see our clouds.

The Psalm begins in the highest of heavens calling on all angelic beings to praise God (2).

The call to praise descends a little lower in verse 3 calling on the stars and planets to praise God.

Finally, it gets to the heavens where the water vapors exist that ultimately become rain on earth (4).

The reason for their praise is given in verse 5. God commanded and they were created. By God’s decree all of this has been established and remains (6).  

It’s clear the Psalmist has the Genesis account of creation in mind. It speaks volumes that thousands of years after creation the writers of Scripture hold to the Genesis account when referring to creation.

Let’s draw some points from this section.

1. There is no place so high that God should not be praised. The Psalmist starts at the top. Sometimes we meet a celebrity or a powerful person, and we find they have friends that consider them common. A President seems greater the further you are from them. The same is true with any man or woman. 

It is not true with God. Those who dwell closest to Him in the heavens still recognize His greatness. The cherubim and seraphim never stop crying out Holy, Holy, Holy! If you think you have outgrown praise you think far too highly of yourself and far too lowly of God.

2. There is no being we should not encourage to praise God. It seems odd for humans to tell angels to praise the Lord. It is fitting. Let’s not forget there were angels that fell.

3. Inanimate objects praise the Lord. The Psalmist calls on planets and stars and water to praise God. We know planets and stars do not reason within themselves or think. They don’t have a mind, nor do they have a tongue. The language is poetic. How do they praise God? They do what they were created to do. 

The sun, moon and stars do a great job. They light up the earth and the sky for the glory of God. They cause us to stand in awe of the Lord. I think of that when I sing:

 Thou burning sun with golden beam, Thou silver moon with softer gleam, O praise Him! O praise Him! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

4. Man will not destroy creation.

Verse 6 is important for our generation. No matter what Chicken little says, the sky is not falling. God has established the planets. They will do what he has decreed them to do. I have gotten in trouble with church members for saying this. Too often we listen to the world and not the Word. It is the height of pride to believe that man can destroy what God has decreed.

2. Everything on earth is commanded to praise the Lord (7-12). 

We have moved from heaven to earth. In the first section the Psalmist started at the top and worked his way down. In this section he starts at the bottom and works up. He begins in the ocean.

He calls on all the creatures in the sea to praise God (7).

He moves above the waters to address the storms that were so common at sea. The lightning (fire), hail, snow and mist, stormy winds.

In verses 8-10 he moves to the land. Mountains and hills. He calls on fruit bearing trees and non-fruit bearing trees. He calls on the animal kingdom. He calls on all classes of people: kings, princes, rulers, men and women, young and old (11-12).

We will draw some points from this section now.

1. No part of creation can exist without God. This is why all creation should praise Him. Nothing that exists does so independently of God. There are no accidental species. This seems to be the point the Psalmist is making. I don’t think animals are knowingly praising God. I think they are praising God by their existence.

2. Storms show the power of God. Several are mentioned in verse 8. Lightning, hail, wind, snow are all mentioned. When I see the devastating power of any of those things I am reminded of the great power of God.

The animal kingdom should certainly praise God for the wind. The wind has saved the life of many deer. I know this from experience. God has given deer an amazing sense of smell. The wind works in their favor carrying the scent of predators to them. For this reason, mature deer learn to play the wind and outsmart even the best of hunters.

3. Everyone on earth, without exception, should praise God.

The Psalmist does a great job showing this truth. From the world’s point of view, he starts at the highest and works his way to the lowest.

Kings of the earth. They owe everything to Him. God sets up and tears down kings. Worship is beneath no one. A crown is no different than a ball cap to God. He is not impressed with position.

Young men and maidens. Some seem to think that praising God is for when you get old. That isn’t the case. The sooner we learn to praise God the better it will be for us.

Old men. No matter how many years you have served God you have not served Him long enough. No matter how much you may be suffering, it is no excuse to stop praising God. Old people should not be known for grumpiness. They should be known for gratefulness. God has given them a long life, and they should praise Him for it. 

Children. If you think you are too small to praise God just remember that in God’s eyes, we are all small. God expects praise to come from the children.

This section reminds me of what Paul said in Philippians 2:

Therefore God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

3. Praising God is the only reasonable response to Him (13-14).

“Let them praise the name of the Lord” Everyone should praise Him. The reason is then given.

“His name alone is exalted” There is nothing or no one worthy of praise except Him. With God there is no second place. The rest of creation pales in comparison to His glory.

All the beauty and power we see in the universe comes from God. Within Him is contained more glory than we see in the heavens or the earth.

“His majesty is above heaven and earth”

There is glory that belongs to the universe. It is beautiful. But the Lord’s majesty is above it. It is hard for us to imagine the glory and beauty of the Lord. We have seen marvelous things. We have not seen the most marvelous.

“He has raised up a horn for His people” The term horn refers to a deliver. One who is strong and will fight for His people has been raised up. We see that in the book of Judges and through kings like David. Ultimately the deliver He has raised up for us is Christ. All who call on His name whether Jew or gentile are now near to Him.

Now let’s finish with some points from this final section:

1. Only God deserves praise. We should be very careful with celebrity culture. It is in every generation. We are always looking for some man or woman to exalt. Whether they are political leaders, musicians, an athlete, etc. they do not deserve to be exalted. For whatever reason we want to do this. We even see this in the church. We would do well to take the words of Paul who said in 1 Corinthians 3:

5 What then is Apollos? What is Paul? iServants through whom you believed, jas the Lord assigned to each. 6 kI planted, lApollos watered, mbut God gave the growth. 7 So nneither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.

2. We can never praise God enough. We are never done praising Him. Spurgeon said:

It is not possible for us to exceed and become extravagant in the Lord’s praise: his own natural glory is infinitely greater than any glory which we can render to him.[1]

He is saying it is impossible to praise God too much. Whatever we give to God in terms of praise will not be enough. Settle that in your heart.

3. Those nearest him praise Him the most.

I love the description of the saints in verse 14. We are called those “near to Him”. We are sons and daughters of Abraham by faith in Christ. Jesus has brought us near through His sacrifice. We are closer to God than John when he laid his head on Jesus’ chest. Scripture says we are in the very hand of God. 

We have much reason to praise the Lord. We have Jesus. He has brought us near to God. Our praise should reflect our position. Friend, those washed in the blood are as near to Christ as the holy angels are. They never cease praising him.

What if you were in heaven right now? Would you be praising God? What would be your disposition? Well friend, heaven is only heaven because of Jesus. You are near to Jesus now. Praise Him. Don’t wait. He is worthy.

Think of al He has done to bring you near.

He sought you.

He bought you with his blood.

He is carrying you even now.

He will present you to the Father. 

[1]C. H. Spurgeon, The Treasury of David: Psalms 120-150, vol. 6 (London; Edinburgh; New York: Marshall Brothers, n.d.), 440.