Praise The Lord

August 28, 2009


The phrase "Praise the Lord" is so common, isn't it? We hear it so often that we just sort of take it for granted. We say it often and sometimes without really even thinking about it. Sometimes half-heartedly without even really meaning it. So casually.

I was thinking about that today and started looking up a few scriptures about praising God. I came across some that I found interesting because they were not about people praising God. It's normal for us to think about people (human beings) praising the Lord but we don't often think about inanimate "things" praising God.

Psalm 148 in particular caught my attention. Starting with verse 7 it says, "Praise the Lord from the earth, you great sea creatures and all ocean depths, lightning and hail, snow and clouds, stormy winds that do his bidding, you mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars, wild animals and all cattle, small creatures and flying birds, ...." Wait a minute. What does that say? Does it say that even the things in the sea, the lightning and hail, the snow and clouds, the winds, the mountains and hills, the trees, the animals, and the birds all know how to praise the Lord? It sure does!!

That's amazing! It's not just people who praise God; other living things (and some not so living) do too! Stop and think about that for a while. That is seriously incredible and not something that we normally even think about. That stirred me up a bit and so I began looking in some other places too and, surprise, surprise, I found many other scriptures that speak to the same thing.

Psalm 96: 11-12, "Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let the sea resound, and all that is in it; let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them. Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy;..." Whoa! Here we go again! The sea, the fields, the things growing in the fields, the trees? They are ALL jubilant and rejoicing! Wow!

Psalm 97:1 & 6, "The Lord reigns, let the earth be glad; let the distant shores rejoice. ......."
"The heavens proclaim his righteousness,...."

Psalm 98: 7-9, "Let the sea resound, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it. Let the rivers clap their hands, let the mountains sing together for joy; let them sing before the Lord,..." Wow! Rivers clap their hands and mountains sing!

Isa. 55:12, "You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands." Trees clap their hands too!

Even the ever-so-popular scripture, Psalm 150:6 says, "Let everything that has breath praise the Lord." Did you catch that? Everything! It doesn't say everyone. It says every THING.

In addition to that, Psalm 90:2, says, "Before the mountains were born....." It doesn't say created here. It says born!

I think all of this is really amazing and very interesting. Something to think about for a while. All of creation, everything, is praising God!

When Jesus made his triumphal entry into Jerusalem, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully praising God in loud voices. The Pharisees told Jesus to make his disciples be quiet. In Luke 19:40, Jesus said, "If they keep quiet, the stones will cry out." He was saying that if people didn't praise him, then even the rocks would!! The rocks!!

It looks to me like ALL of creation is praising God! Am I? Are you? Enough?