Psalm 150 What a racket!

Psalm 150

Finally - the end of the book of Psalms! Wow, this has taken a while....

The book of psalms ends with a bang, not a whimper.

Praise the LORD.
Praise God in his sanctuary, praise him in his mighty heavens.
Praise him for his acts of power, praise him for his surpassing greatness.

So, the question I ask myself is - does God deserve this praise?
looking through the book of Psalms, we run the range of human experience, from being protected by God, abandoned by God, resting in God, being known at the deepest level by God, where does that leave us? 

I think I have to say probably I am in awe of God - the God who knows what I want to think before I even thunk it,

Lets look at the end of the book of Psalms - 

Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet, 
Praise him with the harp and lyre, 
Praise him with tambourine and dancing, 
Praise him with the strings and pipe
Praise him with the clash of cymbals
Praise him with resounding cymbals
Let everything that has breath praise the LORD

Praise the LORD.

As a trombonist I think they almost got the first instrument right! Though the valve trumpet that can play a full scale is a relatively recent development - so the trumpet was more volume than tune and probably based on the Zophar or rams horn (I tried playing one once, did not get very far, if truth be told!)

Some time ago I was playing in a music group for a service attended by the Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, who is a man of God I have a lot of respect for.
Anyway it is well known that Archbishop Sentamu likes to play drums in services, and this one was no exception, the Archbishop started joining in on the African drum, but not quite in the same time or rhythm as the rest of us! The fact is that this did not detract from the music, the joy and exuberance actually added and the timing worked itself out.
The list of instruments listed here make a terrible orchestra - harps take forever to tune up, and then are not very loud!

It is interesting that percussion is mentioned twice - clashing and resounding cymbals.

Perhaps the instruction for everything that has breath to praise the LORD is just an attempt to drown out the cacophony of the band (or, if you are feeling traditional, organ!)

Psalm 149 With a song and a sword?

Psalm 149

Well, we are nearly at the end of the longest book of the Bible, with both the longest and shortest chapter in the Bible.

Anyway, I'm not so sure about this psalm as you might tell from the title!

Having said that, shall we dive in?

Praise the LORD (again literally Hallelujah)
Sing to the LORD a new song, his praise in the assembly of his faithful people.
Let Israel rejoice in their Maker, ket the people of Zion be glad in their king.
Let them praise his name with dancing and make music to him with tambourine and harp.

Have you ever seen the movie "The Blues Brothers?" it is an amazing film, well ok, it has lots of really good music and car chases, what more is needed in a movie really?
Anyway there is a scene in the film where the Blues Brothers (Jake and Elwood) are told to go to the "Triple rock Baptist church" and listen to the sermon (Delivered by blues legend James Brown)
In the church there is some amazing music and the congregation start dancing.
This description here puts me in mind of that totally over the top service!

Back to the Psalm, 
For the LORD takes delight in his people, he crowns the humble with victory.
Let his faithful people rejoice in his honour and sing for joy on their beds.

It is impressive that God's pleasure is not in the rich or arrogant, or even those who sleep well at night! 

Now we get to the bit I find difficult.
We used to sing a song based on this back in the 1980's "With the high praises of God in our mouths, and a two edged sword in our hands, we'll march right on to the victory side, right into Canaan's land."

May the praise of God be in their mouths, and a double-edged sword in their hands, to inflict vengeance on the nations and punishment on the peoples.
To bind their kings with fetters, their nobles in shackles of iron.
To carry out the sentence written against them

As a teenager, I used to like this song, these days it kind of makes me cringe!

This is the glory of all his faithful people.
Praise the LORD.


Should Israel, or any other nation, take it upon themselves to judge other nations? 
Where can we find God' s written sentence? 

Psalm 148 Natural praises

Psalm 148

This is a rather upbeat psalm really,

Praise the LORD, Praise the LORD from the heavens, praise him in the heights above.

Ok so that's one way to pass a long flight! however doing that out loud may cause concern and annoyance with some of the other passengers.

The psalm goes on to exhort the angels and armies of heaven to praise God along with teh shining stars.

Why?
Because he made them.

Ok, let's talk briefly about the old creation vs evolution argument.
The universe along with space and time was created in the big bang some 14 billion years ago.
In fact the very expression "big bang" was coined by sir Fred Hoyle, an astrophysicist who did not agree with the theory.
First of all there was nothing, which exploded and then there was everything.
If we can accept this, why can we not accept that there was some reason for it? 

Evolution is another theory that some people tell me that I'm not allowed to believe, nor that the universe is above 6000 years old - that some people seem to have picked up from some ultra literal reading of the Bible.

I personally don't have a problem reconciling science with faith - nor if it comes to that do a large number of extremely eminent scientists.

The weather and animals and plants are, along with kings, princes and old and young men and women, let them praise the name of the LORD.

The Psalm ends with 
The praise of all his faithful servants, of the people close to his heart.

Praise God.

Psalm 147 The god of nature

Psalm 147

The Psalm begins with a hebrew word "Hallelujah" which literally means "Praise the LORD".
It is a word that inspired the late great Leonard Cohen's famous song.

The psalm continues - How good it is to sing praises to our God, how pleasant and fitting to praise him.

God builds up Jerusalem, he gathers the exiles of Israel.
He heals the broken-hearted, and binds up their wounds.

The next verse is a bit of an interesting thematic jump
He determines the number of the stars and calls each by name.

Great is our LORD and mighty in power, his understanding has no limit.

It is interesting that we are constantly discovering things like sub atomic particles and even galaxies, yet God has unlimited understanding.
One of my favourite verses in the Bible is found in the book of Proverbs (Chapter 25 verse 2) It is the Gory of God to conceal a matter. To search out a matter is the glory of kings.
I think that research and science are part of the glory of mankind - searching out the heart of the universe and God.

The LORD sustains the humble but casts the wicked to the ground.

Why? given the vastness of the universe, why should God care about the humble and the proud and the hurting? 

Sing to the LORD with grateful praise, make music to our God on the harp.
I have to say I don't play the harp, and I am not that good at singing for that matter!

In the Psalm God is responsible for clouds and rains to make the land fertile and sustain ecosystems, both man made and natural.

God does not take pleasure in the strength of the horse, nor the legs of the warrior.
The LORD delights in those who fear him and put their hope in his unfailing love.

Perhaps here is a clue to why God cares? Love!