Hallelujah!
Praise God!
Let everything that breathes
praise the LORD.
Hallelujah!
Praise the Lord!
Where?
In His sanctuary. (I believe that is ultimately everywhere!)
What for?
Who He is: great! What He does: mighty acts!
How?
With a lot of ruckus!
Let’s praise the Lord with all the noise and clatter and music and rhythm and joy that we can!
Praise the Lord!
Hallelujah!
Praise the Lord!
Amen.
Sing to the LORD a new song, . . .
For the LORD takes pleasure
in his people.
There is comfort, and joy in singing the familiar old songs. No doubt. And nothing wrong with affirming faith and praising God with voices filled with the familiar.
But there is something else in new songs:
The Lord loves new. He makes all things new.
He adorns us with creativity that we might celebrate Him with new things from our lives, our minds, our hearts.
Sing to the Lord a NEW SONG!
Amen
Sing to the Lord!
Let the name of the LORD
be blessed
both now and forever.
. . . Who is like the LORD our God . . . ?
God is unique. There’s no one, nothing like Him.
He is exalted.
He is enthroned on high!
We worship Him because He is above and beyond everything, everyone else we know. And He rules!
Praise Him!
Bless His name!
Let His reputation be known, praised, adored far and wide!
Why?
Because He uses His unique, complete power and authority to raise up the most vulnerable and needy. He doesn’t ignore or forget them. Squash them. Rise up on them.
No.
He raises them up and seats them with the nobles, giving children to the childless.
Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!
He is our God!
Who is like Him?
No one!
After many attempts, this became the choice for illustration of this verse. I have always enjoyed watching moms at the beach, having fun with their children. Seems like the most joyous they could be! (Some other iterations of this idea in the next few days.)
My heart is confident, God;
I will sing; I will sing praises
with the whole of my being . . .
For your faithful love is higher
than the heavens,
And your faithfulness reaches to the
clouds
David’s confidence was not in his own strength, or in the capacity of his mighty army. For he knew that “human help is worthless” and his only hope was in trusting God to “perform valiantly” on the behalf of Israel.
Lord, grant me the confidence of David.
I trust in you and have always been the recipient of your faithful love. I have known you to be faithful all my life.
So, Lord, I look to you in this day. Whatever I face, I face it in your presence, counting on your strong arm to work for me – to work to accomplish your purpose, and fulfill your plan.
To your glory.
Praise the Lord, almighty!
I decided to try an entirely different setting for the dawn. I ended up liking this, of all the dawn illustrations, for this Psalm. A glorious day in the snowy hills.
Let whoever is wise pay attention
to these things
and consider the LORD’s acts
of faithful love.
This Psalm begins the 5th book of Psalms. It calls us to remembrance and thanksgiving – and it advises me to pay attention.
If I am wise I will note that the Lord is always at work, through His enduring faithful love.
Lord, allow me eyes to see, a mind to remember, wisdom to understand, and a voice to praise!
Another morning sky – so beautiful – I have dozens of reference photos; maybe someday I’ll learn to paint this type of sky.
Give thanks to the LORD, call on
his name;
proclaim his deeds among the peoples.
This Psalm begins with this call to thanksgiving. Thanksgiving that is founded on remembrance of the Lord’s deeds – His actions to create, protect, provide for, redeem, and establish Israel. From Abraham to the Promised Land, people remember God’s faithfulness, and they are thankful.
I, too, must remember God’s faithfulness to me and recall it before all. Lord, you have provided for me all through my life. You give me above and beyond what I have needed. You have protected me, and given me purpose and opportunity to love and worship you, to proclaim you.
And so I shall:
Praise the Lord!
Come into His presence with thanksgiving.
Recall all His faithful deeds for us.
He is The Lord – Master of all.
Master of me.
This is an example of reference images I was looking through to find the illustration for Psalm 108 (upcoming). I took this photo from the balcony of a cruise ship – I love the color of the sky, the haze on the Isle, the glow of the rising sun, and the reflection across the water. Tomorrow I’ll show an attempt to illustrate this – though this photo is much better.
How countless are your works, LORD!
In wisdom you have made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures.
The Psalmist continues his praise of Creator God.
And I join him.
The earth is populated with the most amazing life – from the forrest animals, to the young lions, to the seas, teaming with life.
And, amidst it all, mankind. Living, working, sleeping – while the creation enjoys the pleasures of the Creator.
Lord, with the Psalmist, I praise you.
You are indeed powerful, creative, caring; full of joy and purpose. And you have made a world that reflects your beauty, generosity, your glory forever.
Lord, I praise you.
I thank you.
We sing to you in recognition of your glory in creation.
Bless the Lord.
Hallelujah!
Our illustration this week comes from Psalm 108 – and I took several runs at it. I started here, trying to capture the morning sky: pinks, blues, etc. . . over a forest of trees. I abandoned this one – there is little to like about it, although I’m still trying to get that beautiful morning sky. . .
I will sing of faithful love and justice;
I will sing praise to you, LORD.
I will pay attention to the way
of integrity.
This vow of David honors God, first with worship.
As such, He is worthy of all worship, and we come to Him, singing praise to Him.
Lord, you are full of love and justice. I join David in my worship, praising you!
David also vows to “pay attention to the way of integrity.”
To live with integrity is a purposeful choice. To live without mixture of deceit, but purely before God.
Not only a choice, also a choice that requires attention and effort.
So easy to let slip in the scent of sin that spoils integrity.
Pay attention! Do the work to maintain a life of integrity – for the praise of the Lord!
Closer!
Exalt the LORD our God;
bow in worship at his holy mountain,
for the LORD our God is holy.
The psalmist repeats, “He is Holy,” to describe the Lord our God. It catches my attention, as it is meant to do, because it is repeated.
He is holy:
Our Lord God is holy!
Worship Him! He is worthy.
Sing a new song to the LORD,
for he has performed wonders;
his right hand and holy arm
have won him victory!
This Psalm echoes in my mind often. Dear friends from high school, Steve and Jeannie, wrote, sang, and recorded this as a new song to celebrate the victory of the Lord.
King Jesus has indeed won the victory.
All of creation celebrates because of His might and strength.
From the seas to the mountains, all of nature resounds with the noise of His victory, His life, His coming judgment.
He comes to judge – and for His people, this is a reason for joyous celebration.
He will judge with righteousness and fairness.
Sing a new song!
Praise to Him!
This little guy is part of the illustration for Psalm 102 – to be featured later this week. Actually, this is my first attempt at the “bird on the roof.” I did a second one – we’ll compare! More about why 2 birds later in the week . . .
Numbering My Days 