Sermon: God’s People Speak About God’s Greatness
Praise the LORD. Praise the LORD from the heavens;
praise Him in the heights above. Praise Him, all His angels;
praise him, all His heavenly hosts. Praise Him, sun and moon; praise Him, all you shining stars. Praise Him, you highest heavens and you waters above the skies. Let them praise the name of the LORD, for at His command they were created, and He established them forever and ever— He issued a decree that will never pass away. 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, kings of the earth and all nations, you princes and all rulers on earth, young men and women, old men and children. Let them praise the name of the LORD, for His name alone is exalted; His splendor is above the earth and the heavens.
God’s people are expected to be a people that praise God. We see this in the Psalm listed above, as the Psalmist says, “Let them praise the name of the LORD!” Why are God’s people expected to praise God? Because He is worthy of praise from that which He has created.
Bible scholar R. Ellsworth writes about how God’s people should see the blessings of God all around them coming from God’s commands and that this, too, should create a heart of praise within believers. He wrote about the Psalmist description of blessings found in Psalm 148: “What was the nature of those blessings? God had once again given security and peace to the city and the surrounding areas (vv. 13–14a). He had also given bountiful crops (v. 14b). The restoration of these blessings, after years and years of their absence, was no small reason for praise. The author did not want to leave any doubt about the source of these remarkable blessings. It was the powerful, effective word of the sovereign God. That word ‘runs very swiftly’ (v. 15). The word which goes out of his mouth is, as it were, very eager to accomplish the thing that he commands. And this word does not return ‘void’ to the Lord but rather accomplishes his purpose (Isa. 55:11). The psalmist again appeals to the natural order to make his point. The snow, the frost, the hail, the cold, the thawing and the wind are all examples of the effectiveness of his word (vv. 15–18).
The people of God were enormously blessed because they had received the word of God in a special way. He had declared ‘his word to Jacob’ and ‘his statutes and his judgements to Israel’ (v. 15). To make sure his point would not be missed, the writer says of God: He has not dealt thus with any nation; And as for His judgments, they have not known them (v. 20). With the concluding ‘Praise the LORD!’ the psalmist leaves by the same door through which he entered.”
This coming Sunday, we will pause in the midst of a busy summer schedule to give God our highest praise for not only blessings, but most importantly, for Who He is. I hope to see you then!
