Hallelujah, Praise the LORD

1 Praise the LORD! Praise the LORD, O my soul! 2 While I live I will praise the LORD; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being. We are down to the last five psalms in our study and chats of this wonderful book of praise and worship. These five psalms are called the “Hallelujah Psalms. They are five great doxologies that bring the Hebrew hymnbook to its close. You will notice that each of them begins with the phrase, “Praise the LORD”, and ends with the same phrase, “Praise the LORD”. In the Hebrew this phrase is “Hallelujah”, which means, “Praise be to Jehovah”. These five psalms were probably written about the time of the completion of the second temple, completion of the walls of Jerusalem, and reconstitution of the body politic of the newborn nation of Israel. This would have been around 518 BC. The Septuagint attributes the authorship of Psalms 146 and 147 to the prophets Haggai and Zechariah. If this is so, then these two beginning doxologies would have been sung at the dedication of the new temple. It is interesting to note that prophetically these psalms anticipate the enthronement of the Lord Jesus amid the praises of all humankind at the beginning of the millennium. For sure these last five "Hallelujah Psalms" focus our attention on praising the Lord. Psalm 146 begins with a vow to praise God throughout life. Psalm 147 tells us it is "good and pleasant" to praise the Lord, and 148 reminds us that when we praise God, we join with all creation, for heaven and earth praise Him. In 149, God's people are admonished to worship joyfully, and the last psalm, Psalm 150, tells us where and why and how "everything that has breath" should praise the Lord. These five psalms are a short course in worship, and God's people today would do well to heed their message. Today, our church sanctuaries are turning into religious theaters and "worship" is becoming more and more entertainment. The author of this psalm understood that God was not just a part of life but the heart of life. Paul had the same conviction. In Philippians 1:21, Paul declares, “For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain”. In Colossians 3:4, he says it this way: “When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory”.    When God is not just a part of our life but at the heart of our life, it means we should spend our life praising the LORD (vv. 1-2). God gives us life and breath (Acts 17:25), so it is only right that we use that life and breath to praise Him (Psalm 150:6). To receive the gifts and ignore the Giver is the essence of idolatry. In verse 2, the writer promised God that he would praise Him all of his life, and certainly this is wise preparation for praising Him for eternity (Psalm 104:33). To live a life of praise is to overcome criticism and complaining, to stop competing against others and comparing ourselves with them. It means to be grateful in and for everything (1 Thess. 5:18; Eph. 5:20) and really believe that God is working all things together for our good (Rom. 8:28). A life of praise is free from constant anxiety and discouragement as we focus on the Lord, who is mentioned eleven times in this psalm. Hallelujah! Praise the LORD! God bless!