What an incredible five weeks it’s been in the Psalms! We end in book 5 with a beautiful song of praise:
1 Praise the Lord.
Praise God in his sanctuary;
praise him in his mighty heavens.
2 Praise him for his acts of power,
praise him for his surpassing greatness.
3 Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet,
praise him with the harp and lyre,
4 praise him with timbrel and dancing,
praise him with the strings and pipe,
5 praise him with the clash of cymbals,
praise him with resounding cymbals.
6 Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.
Praise the Lord.
Has there ever been a time where you felt your praise was so pure? You weren’t thinking about worldly things—only about God’s glory and righteousness? If you were around others, you weren’t concerned with what they thought of you. You were only concerned with that of the Creator.
Psalm 150 is the last chapter of the book. We wrap up all of the joy, confusion, sorrow, anger, loneliness, betrayal, discouragement, exaltation, and really any other emotion you can think of with six verses. And in these six verses we see something wonder-filled.
This psalm is unashamed worship. It’s untainted praise. It’s an unrelenting cry of glory. There is no heartache at the end of Psalms. No one is making a request of God; no one is lamenting. There is only praise. It seems to me there should be exclamation points at the end of each sentence. The praise is so joyful!
Every verse starts with “praise” (excluding v. 6). There is praise with music and dancing and singing. It is absolute praise.
This chapter serves to show us that through everything, we should praise. At the end of our emotional roller coaster, we should praise. No matter our sorrows and troubles, we should praise. The Psalms are filled with the same emotions we feel day in and day out—anger, hurt, happiness, fear, etc. And what we see at the end is the laying down of emotions and the embracing of praise.
This is what true praise looks like. You forget yourself and only think of the one who is everlasting. There is no anxiety about if you should switch jobs, how you’re going to make ends meet, or if you’ll ever find someone to settle down with.
You forget yourself.
Hebrews 13:15 says, “Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name.”
Openly professing God’s name bears fruit. This fruit is produced through continual praise, meaning praise during all seasons of life. Through mountains and valleys.
And praising will not always come easy. Notice the word “sacrifice.” A sacrifice of praise. As Jesus paid the ultimate sacrifice, we must also sacrifice our emotions, thoughts, and feelings for praise. We must praise when the season is difficult.
We must continually praise.
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