Daily Bible Reading Sunday 29th December 2024
by William Moody
Psalms 148–150
Praise the Name of the Lord
148:1 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.1
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,
for his name alone is exalted;
his majesty is above earth and heaven.
14 He has raised up a horn for his people,
praise for all his saints,
for the people of Israel who are near to him.
Praise the LORD!
Sing to the Lord a New Song
149:1 Praise the LORD!
Sing to the LORD a new song,
his praise in the assembly of the godly!
2 Let Israel be glad in his Maker;
let the children of Zion rejoice in their King!
3 Let them praise his name with dancing,
making melody to him with tambourine and lyre!
4 For the LORD takes pleasure in his people;
he adorns the humble with salvation.
5 Let the godly exult in glory;
let them sing for joy on their beds.
6 Let the high praises of God be in their throats
and two-edged swords in their hands,
7 to execute vengeance on the nations
and punishments on the peoples,
8 to bind their kings with chains
and their nobles with fetters of iron,
9 to execute on them the judgment written!
This is honor for all his godly ones.
Praise the LORD!
Let Everything Praise the Lord
150:1 Praise the LORD!
Praise God in his sanctuary;
praise him in his mighty heavens!2
2 Praise him for his mighty deeds;
praise him according to his excellent greatness!
3 Praise him with trumpet sound;
praise him with lute and harp!
4 Praise him with tambourine and dance;
praise him with strings and pipe!
5 Praise him with sounding cymbals;
praise him with loud clashing cymbals!
6 Let everything that has breath praise the LORD!
Praise the LORD!Footnotes
[1] 148:6
Or it shall not be transgressed
[2] 150:1Hebrew expanse (compare Genesis 1:6–8) (ESV)
The Psalms began with a call to have God’s law in the right place in our lives (Psalm 1). One of the purposes of the Psalms (particularly Psalm 119), is to encourage a life of mediation, prayer and obedience focused God’s law. But having God’s law in our lives should not lead to some cold and formal religion, but rather a life of passionate praise which we can see in these final Psalms.
With Psalm 150, we finish the Psalms not with a lot of theology but with a call to whole-hearted and exuberant praise of the Lord. As we praise the Lord we need to begin by remembering the exalted place in which the Lord lives (v1). He is truly high and above.
We praise the Lord because of the wonderful ways in which He has made Himself known through His mighty deeds (v2). In the many stories of the Bible, God’s wisdom, knowledge, power, love, mercy, wrath and justice are revealed again and again.
The result of this focusing on the lord and what He has done, has to be a life of a total giving of ourselves in the Lord’s praise (v3-5). We need to use every resource we have to praise the Lord, our worship has to be extravagant holding nothing back. In doing this we’re calling every creature that has breath to join in (v6). Pray about if you have such a heart of praise.
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