Psalm 148

Psalm 148

All Together Now

I.                    Because God is supreme over all things, all things must praise Him supremely; so all things in the heavens must praise the Lord (Vv. 1-6)

a.       The Psalmist begins this psalm with a call to praise the Lord, but then he appeals to the heavens for that praise. In doing so, he turns our eyes above ourselves in the created order to the angels and the cosmos. The angels are God’s powerful spiritual beings who are ministering spirits, and who Scripture reveals to always create a sense of awe and fear in those to whom they reveal themselves. But they must praise God! The bodies of the cosmos are immensely larger, more powerful, and more vast than we can truly comprehend, but they must praise the Lord! Angels are created beings just like us, and no matter how awesome and powerful they are to us, they were called into existence by God, and equipped by Him to worship Him and serve us, and as such, they’re subject to Him who is infinitely more awesome and powerful, and must praise Him! The vast, powerful, and awesome cosmic array praise by God by both being visibly as a consistent testimony to Him, and by obeying the “natural laws” which God has put in place to maintain order, and keep disorder and chaos from propagating throughout His creation. So what does this mean for us in our lives? Scripture warns us not to worship angels and not to worship celestial bodies, but for millennia people have done exactly that. Further, we must not fall victim to worshiping our limited knowledge and understanding of these things. Only the One who created both is supreme over them and truly worthy of our praise. When we praise those objects, they’ll eventually fail us, and allow us to become overwhelmed with the everyday spiritual, physical, and organizational decay around us. But when we live a life of praise for the One who spoke these things into existence, has set their limits, and who brought and maintains order in all things, we’re able to praise Him, trust Him, and rest in Him when our life is threatened by chaos and disorder. (Vv. 1-6; Gen. 1:6-7; Deut. 4:19; 10:14a; 1 Kgs. 8:27; 2 Kgs. 6:15-17; Neh. 9:6a; Ps. 8:1-3; 19:1-6; 33:6; 89:36-37; 102:25b-28; 103:20-22; 104:3; 111:2-4; 136:7-9; Isa. 6:1-5; Dan. 7:9-10; 10:1-21; Acts 7:42; Rom. 1:18-20; 8:19-22; Col. 2:18-19; Heb. 1:1-14; Rev. 5:11-14; 22:8-9)

II.                 Because God is supreme over all things, all things must praise Him supremely; so all things on earth must praise the Lord  (Vv. 7-14)

a.   Now the Psalmist looks down to the earth and calls everything and everyone to praise the Lord! He calls for all the earth and all its inhabitants to praise the Lord, every sea and land creature, all the land and vegetation, all the forces of the environment, and all the people from the youngest to the oldest, and the most powerful to the weakest. The earth, all it’s physical happenings, and all the things which populate it must praise the Lord because they all exist and function because He created them, He sovereignly controls them, and He did so to glorify His great Name. Every storm which overwhelms us, is minor display of God’s strength for His glory, to turn us to Him in praise. Every amazing creature that roams the oceans and lands of this planet is a testimony to God’s creative power and provision, and must move us to praise Him. And above all else, humankind, the only part of God’s creation created by Him in His likeness, is to testify, serve, and worship God for His glory, because not only has He created us, but He has graciously revealed Himself to us in order to draw us near to Him. It’s not a question of “if” we’ll praise something or someone with our lives, because we were created to praise, it’s a question of “when, what, and/or who” we’ll praise. Those with power, talents, abilities, and intelligence defy God’s glory and rob Him of His praise when they try to heap up followers and praise for themselves. Those who feel worthless because of their apparent lack of abilities, lack of resources, or inability to live up to the image of the world and earn the praise of others, defy God’s glory, rob Him of His rightful praise, and rob themselves of peace, joy, hope, and purpose by not praising, glorifying, and serving His image in themselves. Others rob God of His rightful praise by worshiping mankind, or worshiping and praising God’s creation instead of the Creator. All the things for which the world clamors, and tears each other down over, but never truly obtains, are only realized in belonging to God through faith in Christ according to His gracious provision, and living in continual praise of Him. (Vv. 7-14; Gen. 1:26-31; Deut. 10:14b; Neh. 9:6b; Ps. 2:1-4; 22:3; 33:7-11; 71:6, 14; 89:17, 24; 104:4-6; 107:23-32; 147:19-20; Ezek. 29:21; Hab. 2:13-14; Luke 1:30-33, 68-69; Rom. 1:21-25; Eph. 1:9-14; 2:11-22; Phil. 2:9-11; 3:7-16; Col. 1:13-20; Rev. 21:3)