Hallelujah!

Hallelujah ! Many times we have heard hallelujah is said to be the highest praise! Praise and the christian should be intertwined. We were created as instruments of praise! We have heard the lyrics of praise is what I do! Praise is what I do when I want to be close to you! I lift my hands in praise. Praise is who I am, I will praise Him while I can. I'll bless Him at all times.

Chorus I vow to praise You Through the good and the bad. I'll praise You, Whether happy or sad. I'll praise You

Well William Murphy did not have to look hard to write this song. The Bible instructs us the Praise the Lord! Psalm 92 says

It is good to give thanks to the LORD,

to sing praises to your name, O Most High;

2  to declare your steadfast love in the morning,

and your faithfulness by night,

3  to the music of the lute and the harp,

to the melody of the lyre.

4  For you, O LORD, have made me glad by your work;

at the works of your hands I sing for joy.

5  How great are your works, O LORD!

Your thoughts are very deep!

6  The stupid man cannot know (Ps 92:1–6).

This Song for the Sabbath is proof enough, if such were needed, that the Old Testament sabbath was a day not only for rest but for corporate worship (‘a holy convocation’, Lev. 23:3), and intended to be a delight rather than a burden. If it was at the same time a test of faith and loyalty against the pull of self-interest. This leads me to my first point .

The ‘where’ of praise

It is clear that there is a preferred place of worship. I know we have been conditioned to believe we can praise and worship God anywhere. Yes this is true but it is obvious from the opening of pslam 150 there is a preferred place.

Praise ye the LORD. Praise God in his sanctuary: Ps 150:1).

Praise ye the LORD. Praise God in his sanctuary:

Praise him in the firmament of his power. ( Ps 150:1).

This can also be translated as Praise God in his sanctuary;

praise him in his mighty heavens! (Ps 150:1). or ‘Praise God in his holiness’, in his mighty firmament’ in the heavens

Where one would think that the heavenly spaces would take precedent over the earthly sanctuary. No so!

The call is to God’s worshippers on earth, meeting at his chosen place, but also to his heavenly host (the firmament is the sky, the vault of heaven) to mingle their praises with ours.

Earth and heaven can be utterly at one in this. His glory fills the universe; his praise must do no less. When we fail to see the importance or the weight of our gathering then we will take our gathering for granted. I know the pandemic has caused some to question whether to return to the sanctuary but its the place designed for earthly worship that produces the best results. The psalmist said I was glad when the said unto me let us go into the house of the Lord!

Psalm 11:4 reminds us

The LORD is in his holy temple;

the LORD is on his heavenly throne.

He observes everyone on earth;

his eyes examine them. (Ps 11:4).

Its in Psalm 73 that the psalmist is baffled by the wicked. He could not understand but then he says,

But when I thought how to understand this,

it seemed to me a wearisome task,

17  until I went into the sanctuary of God;

then I discerned their end. (Ps 73:16–17).

When we see the benefit of sanctuary praise and worship then we will not make it an option on our to do list but a priority on our life list. You heard Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another:(Heb 10:25). Bellingham,

150:2. The ‘why’ of praise

Verse 2 Praise him for his mighty acts:

Praise him according to his excellent greatness. (Ps 150:2).

How great is our God?

We are to praise the Lord for is incomparable greatness! When people struggle with praising God they have not focused on his greatness and what he as a great God done for them. The Psalmist in Psalm 20

Now I know that the LORD saves his anointed;

he will answer him from his holy heaven

with the saving might of his right hand.

7  Some trust in chariots and some in horses,

but we trust in the name of the LORD our God. (Ps 20:6–7).

Throughout psalm 150, the same Hebrew preposition persists, Praise Him! ( in, for, or with) Or Rejoice in, for or with.

We can get the feel of its primary sense of ‘in’ by remembering our own expression ‘to rejoice in’ What reasons do you have this morning to priase the Lord. Not because scripture tells you to but because you have legitimate reasons. I can pause a minute if you like. When I think of the goodness Jesus and all he’s done for me my soul cries out Hallelujah!

The psalmist says there are two comprehensive matters for praise we should rejoice in ‘his mighty deeds second, praise him according to excellent greatness, dwells on what he is in himself (cf. the phrase in the Gloria in Excelsis, ‘we give thanks to thee for thy great glory’),

While the first, his mighty deeds, means primarily his saving acts Secondarily, too, his might as Creator our Sovereign God.

I can easily take you to the Lords resume. He is the creator of the heavens and the earth. He is the deliver of his people out Egypt, He is the sustainer of life the provider for your wilderness experience. He secured your salvation on a hill call calvary. We need not look far for the why of our praise!

For help the pslamist also offers us

150:3–5. The ‘how’ of praise

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. (Ps 150:3–5).

The answer to the question ‘how?’ is: ‘with everything you have!’ Say with everything I have!

The list here is not encompass of all we can praise the Lord with but gives us a start. We have much more to work with than in biblical days. Yets many of these have evolved to great orchestra pieces.

The trumpet blast (this was the curved horn used, e.g., to announce the year of jubilee, Lev. 25:9; 9 Then you shall sound the loud trumpet on the tenth day of the seventh month. On the Day of Atonement you shall sound the trumpet throughout all your land. (Le 25:9). Ps. 81:3) or at joyous celebrations Blow the trumpet at the new moon, at the full moon, on our feast day. (Ps 81:3). of a victory,

The timbrel and dance (see on 81:2)

Sing aloud unto God our strength:

Make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob.

2  Take a psalm, and bring hither the timbrel,

The pleasant harp with the psaltery. (Ps 81:1–2).

Let them praise his name in the dance:

Let them sing praises unto him with the timbrel and harp.

4  For the LORD taketh pleasure in his people: (Ps 149:3–4).

Remember the right praise gets Gods attention!

He also says use the string instruments and the organs

We have an array of string instruments today the organ mentioned here is the everyday associations of the pipe or flute (Gen. 4:21; Job 21:12; 30:31).

But these are not distinctions to be pressed or limit our search for instruments. The fact that every kind of instrument, solemn or gay, percussive or melodic, gentle or strident, is rallied here to the praise of God. I have heard that it was here at St Luke they would have a full orchestra set up for Christmas Concerts. I love classical music and love the combination of multiple instruments coming together to tell a story through music.

150:6. The ‘who’ of praise

While some would hold that everything should be translated ‘everyone’ here, this seems an unduly narrow view of the phrase, which is literally ‘Let all breath praise the Lord’.

Rather, let it sum up the glorious variety that was glimpsed in Psalm 148:7–12,

Praise the LORD!

Praise the LORD from the heavens;

praise him in the heights!

2  Praise him, all his angels;

praise him, all his hosts!

3  Praise him, sun and moon,

praise him, all you shining stars!

4  Praise him, you highest heavens,

and you waters above the heavens!

5  Let them praise the name of the LORD!

For he commanded and they were created.

6  And he established them forever and ever;

he gave a decree, and it shall not pass away.

7  Praise the LORD from the earth,

you great sea creatures and all deeps,

8  fire and hail, snow and mist,

stormy wind fulfilling his word!

9  Mountains and all hills,

fruit trees and all cedars!

10  Beasts and all livestock,

creeping things and flying birds!

11  Kings of the earth and all peoples,

princes and all rulers of the earth!

12  Young men and maidens together,

old men and children!

13  Let them praise the name of the LORD, . (Ps 148:1–13).

‘And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all therein, saying, “To him who sits upon the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honour and glory and might for ever and ever!” ’

Amen!

Kidner, D. (1975). Psalms 73–150: An Introduction and Commentary (Vol. 16, pp. 528–529). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

(This is my testimony) In all that I go through, (Somebody said why) Because praise is what I do, Cause I owe it all to You.