Praise
Use the material to go deeper into this Series on your own, or with your small group.
Series Materials
We have taken the summer of 2022 to walk through the book of Psalms. And we’ve been saying every week that the Psalms strongly connect with our humanness, because the Psalm writers are really honest about their emotions and struggles. So we’ve looked at Psalms that deal with confusion and fear and instability and injustice and gratitude and restlessness—this wide range of the human experience, right? And each Psalm shows us how that life situation can be an opportunity to grow stronger in our faith and gain a bigger vision of God.
So today we come to the very last Psalm, and it’s a short one—just six verses. But it’s the perfect conclusion, because it reminds us of the one main thing we need to know from the book of Psalms. This fall, if somebody says to you, “Hey, what do you remember from that series in the Psalms last summer at The Chapel?”, even if you forget everything else, remember this. Remember the message of Psalm 150. It’s such a crystal clear summary of the whole book.
I believe Psalm 150 actually provides the answer to the original question raised at the very beginning of Psalms. Look at the very first phrase in the very first verse in the Psalms—Psalm 1:1 starts out: Blessed is the one… That Hebrew word translated “blessed” can also be translated “happy.” So in a way, the whole book of Psalms is answering the question, “Who is truly happy in this life? What kind of person—what approach to life leads to a happiness that’s deep and satisfying and lasting?” And really, all 150 Psalms answer that question—in different ways, coming at it from different angels—but every Psalm is showing us the one thing that leads to blessing and happiness. And Psalm 150 hammers that message home in a memorable way.
Now—I have to warn you: the message you’re about to hear—this philosophy of life—is extremely counter-cultural. We are living in a culture that tells us that our deepest problems are caused by low self-esteem. So if we really want to be happy, we have to develop a higher view of ourselves! You hear that message everywhere, don’t you? Sometimes that’s even the message you hear from pulpits. One popular TV preacher frequently says, “To find happiness, quit focusing on what’s wrong with you and start focusing on what’s right with you.” But when you read the Psalms, you get a completely different message. You learn that happiness doesn’t come from focusing on yourself at all. Happiness is actually a by-product that only comes when we take our eyes off ourselves and learn to focus on something much bigger. That’s what all the Psalms have been teaching, and Psalm 150 shouts that message in a way that’s impossible to miss.
So let’s read it together—and actually, we don’t normally do this at The Chapel, but let’s actually all read it aloud. Would you rise for the reading of the Word? As we read this together, let’s open our hearts to the Word of God.
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. This is the Word of the Lord. You can be seated.
You might have noticed that the Psalm begins and ends with the same phrase. What’s the phrase? Praise the Lord. Anybody know the Hebrew for “praise the Lord”? Hallelujah. In fact, the last 5 Psalms—Psalm 146, 147, 148, 149 and 150, are called the “Hallelujah Psalms,” because they all begin and end with Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. So that’s got to be important.
The word for “praise” is halal. It means to praise, or glory in, or boast in something. In other words, it’s the thing you’re most excited about, passionate about, proud of, confident in. Jeremiah 9:23 says, “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, or the strong man boast in his strength, or the rich man boast in his riches”—and that word for “boast” is that same word—halal. Isn’t that interesting? Almost like it’s saying, “Hey—whatever you have going for you—money, strength, wisdom—be careful you don’t start worshiping that—don’t worship yourself. That would be a mistake.”
And that’s exactly what the Psalms have been telling us. True happiness—true fulfillment—comes when we direct our halal—our glory, our boast, our praise—away from ourselves and onto God. That’s when life gets good, and self-esteem takes care of itself.
So if I had to summarize the message of Psalm 150 in one sentence, here’s what I’d say:
The path to happiness is to praise the Lord for all he is, with all you’ve got, in all of life.
The path to happiness is to praise the Lord for all he is, with all you’ve got, in all of life. Let’s take that one phrase at a time.
First, Praise the Lord for all he is. When C.S. Lewis was a young Christian, he struggled with the idea of praise. He thought, “What kind of God is so insecure that he demands that people tell him how great he is?” But he eventually realized that he had a misconception of what praise really was. In his book Reflections on the Psalms, he wrote this:
The most obvious fact about praise—whether of God or anything—strangely escaped me. I thought of it in terms of compliment, approval, or the giving of honour. I had never noticed that all enjoyment spontaneously overflows into praise… The world rings with praise—lovers praising their mistresses, readers their favourite poet, walkers praising the countryside, players praising their favourite game – praise of weather, wines, dishes, actors, motors, horses, colleges, countries, historical personages, children, flowers, mountains, rare stamps, rare beetles, even sometimes politicians or scholars. I had not noticed how the humblest, and at the same time most balanced and capacious, minds, praised most, while the cranks, misfits, and malcontents praised least...
Do you see what he’s saying? Praise isn’t some religious concept—it’s just what we do when we’re really impressed with something—we praise it! We talk it up! We get excited about it! And in verse 2, we find two things about God that we’re invited to be impressed with. Look what it says:
Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness.
When you think about God’s “acts of power,” what comes to mind? I think about creation. The breathtaking images being beamed back to earth from the James Webb Space Telescope. The glasslike surface of the lake where my son was married last weekend. The breeze rustling the leaves of the trees as I walk through the park by my house on a summer evening. The richness of the soil as you harvest ripe tomatoes from your garden. Whatever it is that you love and enjoy in the natural world, it exists because God designed it. So here’s what the Psalm is saying: let your enjoyment of the created world move you to praise the Creator. Are you with me? In other words, don’t worship the stars and the planets and the breeze and the lake and the soil; allow those things to turn your eyes upward to the one who created all of it, and be amazed with Him.
Of course, God’s “acts of power” aren’t limited to his power in creation. It also includes the miraculous things he did for the nation of Israel—delivering them from Egypt, parting the Red Sea, bringing them into their land. It includes all the ways he’s worked in our lives—I think about the wonder of each of my children being born; I think about the times on highways that I lost focus and really should have crashed but didn’t; I think about the time I was drowning in the Atlantic Ocean two summers ago, and God miraculously sent a man to notice me and run for a lifeguard who came to rescue me. Do you have moments like that, when God clearly showed up in your life? All those are God’s acts of power, and when we learn to see those things as opportunities to praise God, we will be happy and blessed people.
Praise him for his acts of power. But also, praise him for his surpassing greatness. Just because of who he is. You know, if you’ve been around the church for a while—especially if you grew up in the church, it is so easy to take for granted how incredible God is. Just the combination of attributes that he possesses. Our God is powerful and holy and righteous…but at the same time he’s merciful and gentle and compassionate. Isn’t that amazing? Like, he’s not one or the other; he’s both. He’s all that.
If you have a hard time picturing that, just think about Jesus. John 1 says he came from the Father, full of grace and truth. Both—not just gracious, and not just truthful—he had both, in perfect balance. He’s both the roaring Lion and the gentle Lamb. He calmed a storm by speaking to it, and he took little children in his arms. That’s what our God is like. He’s not an impersonal force or energy; he’s a personal God who showed up in the person of Jesus, and he is unlike any other being in the universe. And Psalm 150 invites us to praise him for his surpassing greatness. That a God like that would love me and want a relationship with me? It sounds too good to be true, but it’s true. How could I not praise a God like that?
So this is in invitation to open our eyes to see how awesome God is—he acts of power and his surpassing greatness—and respond by praising him. When we do that, we’ll be truly happy.
Secondly, Praise the Lord with all you’ve got. Verses 3 through 5 is this really impressive list of musical instruments: horns, stringed instruments like harps and lyres, wind instruments like pipes, and a lot of percussion—timbrels (which were like tambourines), all kinds of crashing cymbals. Not to mention dancing, which was a common element in Hebrew worship. What does that description make you feel like? What kind of a scene is this? Joyful…exuberant…highly expressive… kind of loud? Right?
So if you wonder why we put so much effort into music in church, this is it. This is why our musicians practice, and we hold rehearsals, and we fill our platforms maybe not with this exact list of instruments, but with the modern equivalent—guitars and basses and keyboards and cellos and drums, etc. Because music is a God-given way to express our halal. More than mere words ever could, music draws in our hearts and our emotions to celebrate and worship and glory in this amazing God.
But I also think this is broader than just music. I believe this is teaching us to worship the Lord not just with every instrument we have, but with all we have. With everything. And that’s going to look different for every person.
For many years, I have admired an artist named Makoto Fujimura. He was born in the U.S. in 1960 to Japanese parents, and he realized early on that he had a tremendous gift for art. While he was in school, he had a spiritual hunger that he didn’t know what to do with, and it was actually while he was studying for his master’s degree in Tokyo that he became a believer in Christ. So he has become a highly renowned artist; his work’s been displayed in the best galleries; he’s lectured all over the world; and his main topic is how art and faith fit together. And I love this simple quote. He said, “I consider my life and my art to be an offering to worship our Living God.” Isn’t that a great concept? The thing he does best—his art—he realizes is a means of worshiping God.
And that doesn’t just apply to artists. If you are a teacher, wouldn’t it be amazing to say, “I consider my life and my teaching to be an offering to worship our Living God.” “I consider my life and my research to be an offering to worship our Living God.” “I consider my accounting…my diaper-changing…my cashiering…my engineering…my investing…my Uber-driving…whatever God has called me to at this moment in my life, I’m going to do it with passion and love and excellence, recognizing this is what God has called me to. So whenever I get a chance I’m going to talk about him and tell people about my faith in him, but even when I’m not talking I’m going to do what I do to the glory of God. Think about that: everything we do can become an act of praise! Like it says in 1 Corinthians 10:31, So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.
So instead of worrying about your self-esteem, focus on God: praise him for all he is, and praise him with all you’ve got. And then one more thing, and this is the hardest part:
Praise the Lord in all of life. Verse 1 says…
Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens.
God’s “sanctuary” is talking about his temple, where the Jewish people would gather to worship him. And then it says praise him in his mighty heavens. So from the most familiar place—the temple on earth—to the most remote place—the far reaches of the sky—and everywhere in between—it’s always the right thing to praise the Lord. You never have to wonder, “Is this a good moment in life to praise God?”; because the answer is always “Yes.”
Psalm 33:1 says “It is fitting for the upright to praise him.” Psalm 147:1 says, “How pleasant and fitting to praise him.” In other words, no matter where you are or what’s going on, it’s always appropriate to turn your attention to God and give him praise. Praise the Lord in all of life.
But let’s be honest: there are certain moments in life when it’s a little more challenging to do that Right? Think about some of the emotions we’ve been exploring in the Psalms. A few weeks ago we talked about gratitude. When you’re feeling gratitude, is it easy to praise? Absolutely—it comes naturally. You just got a raise—praise God! You finished your last round of radiation and you’re cancer free—praise the Lord! But we also talked about confusion, and restlessness, and instability. How easy is it to praise God at those times? It’s a little harder. But it’s even more valuable during those times.
In the book of Job, in the first chapter, Job receives the news of horrible disaster that struck his family, and look how he responds—Job 1, verse 20:
20 At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. (Those were acts of mourning). Then he fell to the ground in worship 21 and said:
“Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised.” Man, there’s power in that kind of praise.
In the book of Habakkuk, God tells the prophet Habakkuk that painful judgment is about to fall on Jerusalem, and here’s how the prophet responds in Habakkuk 3:17…
17 Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, 18 yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior. Isn’t that amazing, to be able to say that? It’s always fitting to praise the Lord.
I think of Paul and Silas in Acts chapter 16. They get arrested for causing a public disturbance; they get severely beaten and locked up in prison, with their feet the stocks. And Acts 16:25 says About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. There’s some grit in that kind of praise, isn’t there?
You might remember, back in 2010, the nation of Haiti was struck with a devastating earthquake—countless buildings collapsed, and over 100,000 lives were lost. It’s amazing how quickly we forget and move on to the next tragedy, right? There was an NPR article that summarized it this way: “For the Western hemisphere’s poorest country, the earthquake…was an especially cruel blow. Despite this, it’s hard to find a Haitian who doesn’t profess belief in a loving God.” And it it’s true. As a whole, the people maintained their faith. So those first few nights, almost everyone stayed outside, because they feared more buildings might collapse. So they gathered as families and as friends, no electricity, just the stars in the sky, and over the hills of Haiti you could hear music rising up. Voices of grief and pain, but also voices of hope, and praise to the God they trusted.
Those are the times that praise might not come so easily, but those might be the most important times of all.
One commentator said it like this:
Our reasons for praising him—his mighty deeds and his glory over all—always eclipse and outweigh what we suffer, and all the more so now that Christ has come, died, and risen. God doesn’t minimize or neglect our suffering, but his goodness to us always outshines the trials he hands us. And so the psalmist can say to every one of us, at every moment of our lives, “Praise the Lord!”
The happiest people are people who’ve learned to praise the Lord in all of life—especially in the painful times.
So many voices in culture tell us the key to happiness is to focus on our own self-esteem and our own fulfillment. But the Psalms tell a radically different story: the path to happiness is to praise the Lord: for all he is, with all you’ve got, in all of life.
And then at the very end, before the final Hallelujah, verse 6 says Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. So not just humans—all of creation is being invited to lift their praise to God. If you go back two chapters, Psalm 148 gives a fuller picture of what this looks like—look at Psalm 148, beginning in verse 7:
7 Praise the LORD from the earth, you great sea creatures and all ocean depths, 8 lightning and hail, snow and clouds, stormy winds that do his bidding, 9 you mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars, 10 wild animals and all cattle, small creatures and flying birds, 11 kings of the earth and all nations, you princes and all rulers on earth, 12 young men and women, old men and children.
In other words, every part of creation—both animate and inanimate—is being invited to join in this chorus by giving praise and glory to the God who created them. It’s what they were designed for! And it’s what we were designed for. We are most fully human and most deeply fulfilling our purpose when we are living lives of praise.
And when we do that—even though we’re not focused on finding happiness, because we’re focused on God—happiness tends to sneak up on us. There are so many voices out there telling you it’s all about self-esteem and self-fulfillment; it’s just not true. The path to happiness is to praise the Lord.
So as we look back on our summer in the Psalms, I want to remind us of all the emotions we’ve explored, and I want to remind us how every one of them leads to praise. So would you rise? So this is going to be participatory: I’m going to call out every emotion we’ve touched on through the Psalms, and after every one, let’s join our voices and say, “We praise you, Lord!” Are you ready?
In times of despair, we praise you Lord!
In times of fear, we praise you Lord!
In times of injustice, we praise you Lord!
In times of waiting, we praise you Lord!
In times of gratitude, we praise you Lord!
In times of stress, we praise you Lord!
In times of guilt, we praise you Lord!
In times of restlessness, we praise you Lord!
In times of instability, we praise you Lord!
In times of confusion, we praise you Lord!
For all you are, with all we’ve got, in all our lives (together we say), “We praise you Lord!”
Amen! Let’s put our hands together and express our love for God!