Praise the Lord! . . . is the great finale of the Psalter...and notice it is an imperative. Throughout the Psalm we are called over and over to praise the Lord! The greatest truth about God is that He is worthy of our worship. And the deepest truth about ourselves is that we were created to worship Him. When we are faithful to do this we find the real purpose of our lives, our very existence. When we give ourselves completely to worship we are dwelling in His very presence, and receiving the power of almighty God that is given to us through His Son in His Spirit.
At the end of the age the battle lines will be drawn. We either worship God or we worship the deceiver. The Psalms teach, inform and reform our worship if we will but listen to God speak through them. They will lead us to God-centered worship. This is why I committed years ago to read through the Psalms and Proverbs every month. We are challenged to wait upon Him, to sit in silence, to listen to His voice. When we do He transforms our worship. We also learn how to petition Him to expect His healing, deliverance and peace as we hear His Word and remember His mighty acts in our own lives. The word "praise" is repeated some 13 times in this Psalm. It is both an introduction and summary of what authentic worship is: expressing joyful delight in the presence of God.
What is our motive as we come to worship? - to praise Him! We praise Him for His mighty acts and according to His excellent greatness! We praise Him for all He has done, and we praise Him for who He is. The 150th Psalm concludes with another exhortation which harkens back to verse 1. "Let everything that has breath praise the LORD." This is the purpose of breath - the spirit which God Himself breathed into us (Gen. 2:7). The essence of our lives is to breathe it back to Him in praise! Praise the Lord! mjm
