Praise The Lord

DEVOTION

PSALMS

PRAISE THE LORD

Ps 135

135:1

Praise the LORD.

Praise the name of the LORD; praise him, you servants of the LORD, 2 you who minister in the house of the LORD, in the courts of the house of our God. 3 Praise the LORD, for the LORD is good; sing praise to his name, for that is pleasant. 4 For the LORD has chosen Jacob to be his own, Israel to be his treasured possession. 5 I know that the LORD is great, that our Lord is greater than all gods. 6 The LORD does whatever pleases him, in the heavens and on the earth, in the seas and all their depths. 7 He makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth; he sends lightning with the rain and brings out the wind from his storehouses. 8 He struck down the firstborn of Egypt, the firstborn of men and animals. 9 He sent his signs and wonders into your midst, O Egypt, against Pharaoh and all his servants. 10 He struck down many nations and killed mighty kings — 11 Sihon king of the Amorites, Og king of Bashan and all the kings of Canaan — 12 and he gave their land as an inheritance, an inheritance to his people Israel. 13 Your name, O LORD, endures forever, your renown, O LORD, through all generations. 14 For the LORD will vindicate his people and have compassion on his servants. 15 The idols of the nations are silver and gold, made by the hands of men. 16 They have mouths, but cannot speak, eyes, but they cannot see; 17 they have ears, but cannot hear, nor is there breath in their mouths. 18 Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them. 19 O house of Israel, praise the LORD;O house of Aaron, praise the LORD; 20 O house of Levi, praise the LORD; you who fear him, praise the LORD. 21 Praise be to the LORD from Zion, to him who dwells in Jerusalem.

Praise the LORD.

NIV

Much of this psalm has to do with recounting all the Lord did for Israel, almost like a history lesson of sorts. There is no doubt Israel is the chosen nation which God declared would be his special nation through whom he would reveal himself to the world. It is not that Israel is any more special than any other nation in the world as far a nations go. But God chose them to reveal himself through them, to show the whole world his mighty power and his mighty love for his creation. His power is over all the physical aspects of the world. He causes it to rain and to include lighting and thunder. He causes the wind to blow, the clouds in the sky, all the earth is under his control. This should be evidence enough to refute all the claims that man has any effect on his environment. But then those how make those claims refute the control of God, maybe even refute God himself. He even has control over the rulers of the land. Although we may have had some rather evil rulers throughout history, God caused them to ruin for the benefit of his world, his people. Has Israel suffered at time, even though they are his chosen people? Sure, they turned their backs on him, and he did what he had to do in order to bring them back. Even today Israel is not in conformance with his will. But to apply this to us is still appropriate as we are his people, we have become true Israel because of the circumcision of our heart. We have become his chosen people and we are now the temple of the Lord. We are the house of the Holy Spirit. We are those servants of the Lord who are to praise him. We are those who minister in our bodies, the house of the Lord, in the courts of the house of God. We present our bodies as a living sacrifice holy and acceptable to the Lord which is our act of worship.

Rom 12:1-2

12:1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God — this is your spiritual act of worship. 2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is — his good, pleasing and perfect will.

NIV

So we sing praise to the Lord within our heart and with our mouth and our bodies, which include our hands. We serve a God, we praise a God who also has ears and can hear our praise. He has eyes to see our praise, our lives, as we live to please him. He has a mouth and speaks his perfection and loving will into our hearts and minds. Some of us have actually heard the audible voice of God speaking to us, some have heard his still small voice within themselves. But he speaks to his people. Why would we make any inanimate object, like anything fashioned of or resembles or represents gold and silver? No, we will praise the Lord in all his house, in his temple, within our whole being, we will praise the Lord. He has wonderfully made us for that purpose. So let us praise the Lord.