Listen here.
Welcome to
Devotions for Worship where we meditate on the appointed Scripture readings for
the upcoming Sunday. I am Pastor Eric Tritten from Gloria Dei Lutheran Church
in Hudson, OH. Thank you for being with me today.
Sometimes we find
strong connections between the appointed readings in a given week, and
sometimes not. The Psalm often has elements related to themes we find in the
readings … but not always. This week is a “not always” week. The appointed
psalm this week is Psalm 150 – the last psalm in the Psalter. It does not deal
with vines and branches, with baptism or evangelism. It is purely a Psalm of
Praise. In fact, it is one of the Hallelujah Psalms; a series of five psalms
(146-150) which all begin and end with the word, “hallelujah.” We don’t see
that word in our English translations because they translate the word “hallelujah”
so that we can know it means, “praise the LORD.”
Let’s read the
psalm.
The Reading:
Ps. 150 (ESV)
Praise the LORD!
Praise God in his
sanctuary;
praise
him in his mighty heavens!
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!
(Ps. 150:1-6 ESV)
Comments:
I said earlier
that this psalm was not really connected to the other readings of the week, but
in a sense it is. This psalm calls us to praise the LORD. How else should we
respond to God’s love and salvation? After his baptism, the Ethiopian eunuch
went on his way rejoicing, and rejoicing is often tied to giving praise to the
God who gives us joy through the salvation Jesus has won.
The psalm calls
us to praise the LORD, and then it sort of answers a series of questions.
Verse one
answers, “Where?” Where should we praise the Lord? Well, we praise Him in His
sanctuary. A sanctuary is a holy place, a place set aside for worship. For the
psalmist it would be the temple. For us this is church! We come to church and praise
the Lord. But this is not something that happens only among us. Praise is
happening in the heavens as well, and this brings to mind the images of angels,
and archangels, and all the company of heaven gathered around the throne of God
praising him day and night … and we praise Him with them.
Verse two answers
the question, “Why?” We praise Him for His mighty deeds. Actually, the Hebrew
just says to praise Him for His strength or might, however, God has used that
strength and might on our behalf. This refers to the power He displays in
creation – making all things, sustain it all … even us. His might is seen in
His salvation – how He rescued Israel out of slavery in Egypt and protected
them as a people and nation, and even more so it the death and resurrection of
Jesus who defeated sin and death to restore God’s creation … even us. His
excellent greatness shows in the way He continues to preserve and protect His
people even today.
The next three
verses (3-5) answer the question, “How?” It says to praise the LORD with music,
and lists a bunch of musical instruments. In the interest of full disclosure,
we should note that these are modern equivalents of the instruments listed
which the ancient Israelites would have played, but the point is to impress
upon us to bring all kinds of music before the LORD. We should also note that
they probably could not tune all these instruments to work together … which
means that if they were all played together they were definitely making a “joyful
noise unto the Lord!” Praising God is not about talent or skill. It is the cry
of joy coming from the heart of God’s people.
The last verse
answers the question, “Who?” Who should praise the LORD? “Everything that has
breath.” That is a powerful image. In essence, all of creation stands before
God and is called to praise him. We have the joy of being able to do so with
our whole selves: with our voices in worship, with musical instruments if we
play, with our minds, our work, our skills, and our very selves.
The Reading:
Ps. 150 (ESV)
Praise the LORD!
Praise God in his
sanctuary;
praise
him in his mighty heavens!
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!
(Ps. 150:1-6 ESV)
Prayers:
O LORD, we praise
You for Your mighty deeds. You have made us. We are yours. You gave Jesus to
save us from sin and death. He has redeemed us and made us into a new creation.
Your Spirit dwells within us and He moves us to believe You and to respond to
You in praise. Sometimes we place our praise in the wrong places, in nature
instead of nature’s God, our intellect, our power, and our ingenuity instead of
in You. Please forgive us for Jesus’ sake, and help us join with the angels and
archangels and with the creation itself to praise You. Hallelujah! Amen.
Memory Verse: John 15:5 - I am the vine; you are the
branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit,
for apart from me you can do nothing. (Jn. 15:5 ESV)
Thank you so much
for using Devotions for Worship, I pray that our time together has blessed you
and given you something to meditate on – some reminder of God’s grace to rattle
around in your brain – for the rest of the day.
I want to remind
you to be prayerfully and thoughtfully generous in the giving of alms during
this Advent season. Pray that God open your eyes, your heart, and your hand to
help others in need.
Another
devotional habit we can use to help us meditate on God’s word is memorization.
Would you do me a
favor? If you got something out of this devotional time, would you like and/or
share it on Facebook, Twitter, or wherever you do social media? That would help
me get the word out, and hopefully help these devotions be a blessing to others.
God bless you!
Devotions
for Worship: Psalm 150 - audio: https://soundcloud.com/pastor-tritten/april-26-psalm-150
- text: #devotion #devotional #devotions
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