This is the final psalm of the 150 psalms in this book. It serves as a doxology with a universal call to praise God by the psalmist.

The word “praise” appears a total of thirteen times in the short six verses of this last and very short psalm. It works up to two times per verse, except for verse one, which has three times.

It is evidently clear that the psalmist is calling us to praise God, which he ends with a command for us in verse 6 to praise the Lord.

In verse 1, the psalmist calls all his readers to praise God as he mentions the places they are called to do it. That is, in His earthly sanctuary and in the heavenly place of His creation, as most commentators would tell us. However, the focus is not on the literal place but the call for everyone to praise God here on earth and in heaven, as verse 6 calls everyone with breath to praise the Lord.

In verse 2, he provides the reasons for praising Him. That is, for the mighty acts that He has done for us, and the excellent greatness as manifested in what He has done. He even gives us the instructions on how to praise the Lord. In verses 3-5, he promotes the use of the following musical instruments: trumpets, harps, lyres, tambourines, and cymbals. They are to praise God loudly and joyously if He is a great and powerful God.

In verse 6, he ends by giving us the universal command to “Let everything that has breath praise the LORD.” The command is understood as a call “to all humanity and all living creatures to use the life given to them for the purpose of glorifying God.”

As we approach Christmas, let us praise the Lord for what He has done for us. He sent His Son, the Creator and Ruler of the universe, into the world to die for us. Therefore, we must use more than our musical instruments and our lips to praise Him. We must use everything in our lives to praise our Saviour, Lord, and King if indeed we believe He is that great!

Paul calls us to offer ourselves as living sacrifices for His use. Will you offer yourself as a living sacrifice for God to use then? Our gratitude and our knowledge of Him must lead to the giving of our all to Him, not what we have scraped out from the bottom of the barrel, if we are truly grateful for what He did for us!

Prayer:

My Lord and God, you are the great God who loves us so much that you gave us your only begotten Son to die for our sins, and delivered us from eternal death, and gave us eternal life instead. I praise you, O Lord my God, for all that you have done for me and offer myself as a living sacrifice for your service.