The Final Great Hallelujah

-


Scripture:

Psa. 150:1        Praise the LORD!
    Praise God in his sanctuary;
        praise him in his mighty firmament!
2     Praise him for his mighty deeds;
        praise him according to his surpassing greatness!
 
Psa. 150:3        Praise him with trumpet sound;
        praise him with lute and harp!
4     Praise him with tambourine and dance;
        praise him with strings and pipe!
5     Praise him with clanging cymbals;
        praise him with loud clashing cymbals!
6     Let everything that breathes praise the LORD!
    Praise the LORD!

Observation:

This final Psalm is the climax of all the Psalms and a fitting doxology. In the end we are left with nothing but praise for our LORD!

We are invited into the sanctuary, or into the very place of God’s holiness where we are overwhelmed with his holy presence.

We praise God for all that he has done and the instruments are invited into this great hallelujah. The trumpets which are normally used for ceremonial purposes, gaining the attention of the people blast out the praise of God. The lute and the harp which were typically used in worship continue to play and the cymbals, clanging in happy and loud pronouncements — this is our God!

Wake up oh people of God, “let everything that breathes praise the LORD!”

This is the doxology — the great Hallelujah.

Application:

The message of God’s word is continually pointing in a direction where God’s people will dwell with him in his holy presence. The idea of being ushered into the very heart of God, into his holy sanctuary results in praise simply springing forth from every part of our being — the great hallelujah cannot be contained!

Many of us will go to church today to worship our LORD. We will be ushered into a physical sanctuary where we will have the opportunity to praise and to worship God. But while we may be in a physical sanctuary, we may not be in a place where the great hallelujah springs out of us. This can only happen when we enter the very holy presence of God — when all the obstacles to true worship are removed from our lives. The Psalmist spoke of a physical temple, Jesus spoke of God’s people as the temple. God comes and dwells in and among his people through the power of the Holy Spirit.

For us to praise God in his sanctuary is to praise him through us. We shouldn’t have to wait to go to church on a Sunday to praise the Lord. Nor should going to a church on a Sunday be the answer to our lack of praise of the Lord. We won’t worship God in church if we haven’t allowed God into the sanctuary of our own lives.

But when he does come and dwell in us, bringing his holiness to us, then praising God oozes from every part of our being. We will then praise him in the sanctuary, and everywhere else. We will praise him with the ordinary instruments of life and with his instruments of worship. It won’t matter what style of worship we have at church because our greatest desire will simply be to shout out the great hallelujah to our holy God, and when that happens praise breaks out on the trumpet, harp, lute, cymbal — and who knows what else!

Prayer:

Lord, may I praise and worship you in church today and everywhere else.  Amen.


If you would like to read more "Reflecting the Image"  click on the image to take you to the NPH bookstore.The book is also available in Kindle format on Amazon.com.


http://www.nph.com/nphweb/html/nph/itempage.jsp?itemId=9780834135277





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Take Off Your Ornaments

-
Scripture: Ex. 33:4 ¶ When the people heard these harsh words, they mourned, and no one put on ornaments. Ex. 33:5 For the LORD had said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘You are a stiff-necked people; if for a single moment I should go up among you, I would consume you. So now take off your ornaments, and I will decide what to do to you.’” Ex. 33:6 Therefore the Israelites stripped themselves of their ornaments, from Mount Horeb onward. Observation: The people had sinned before God by making and worshiping the golden calf!  They had taken their golden jewelry — the earrings and other items they had gotten from the Egyptians and used them to create an idol.  Now, in an act of humility and repentance they were to take off all of their jewelry and ornaments.  It was a time of mourning over their sin and it included intentional action on the part of the Israelites.  Application: We don’t do all that well with humility and repentance!  It seems that we live in a ti...
Read more

Does God Value Boys More than Girls?

-
Scripture: Lev. 12:1 ¶ The LORD spoke to Moses, saying: Lev. 12:2 Speak to the people of Israel, saying: ¶ If a woman conceives and bears a male child, she shall be ceremonially unclean seven days; as at the time of her menstruation, she shall be unclean. Lev. 12:3 On the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised. Lev. 12:4 Her time of blood purification shall be thirty-three days; she shall not touch any holy thing, or come into the sanctuary, until the days of her purification are completed. Lev. 12:5 If she bears a female child, she shall be unclean two weeks, as in her menstruation; her time of blood purification shall be sixty-six days. Lev. 12:6 ¶ When the days of her purification are completed, whether for a son or for a daughter, she shall bring to the priest at the entrance of the tent of meeting a lamb in its first year for a burnt offering, and a pigeon or a turtledove for a sin offering. Lev. 12:7 He shall offer it before the LORD, and make atonement on her ...
Read more

On Grief and A Flute Player

-
Scripture: Matt. 9:23 When Jesus came to the leader’s house and saw the flute players and the crowd making a commotion, Matt. 9:24 he said, “Go away; for the girl is not dead but sleeping.” And they laughed at him. Matt. 9:25 But when the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took her by the hand, and the girl got up. Matt. 9:26 And the report of this spread throughout that district. Observation: This is a simple story which we have heard or read numerous times. Jesus heals the little girl and the people rejoice. But at the moment in which he arrives at the home he encounters the professional mourners. These are the flute players, the ones who have come to make a great noise about the child’s death. It is the flute player that testifies to the fact that she is truly dead. Also, flutes were generally employed when it came to the death of a child. The whole community would therefore understand that it is a child who has died in this home. The flute player is doing the job they have ...
Read more