Psalm 150 - The Sound of Worship

Open your Bibles this morning to Psalm 150. In an earlier study we looked at Psalm 1 and considered how the book of Psalms begins. Today we will focus on the final psalm and note how it ends. The book of Psalms opens with a psalm of wisdom, exhorting us to flee sin and pursue the way of the righteous. But the Psalter closes with crescendo of praise that will resound around the world and through the ages.

Let’s begin by reading the psalm together.

Hear the Word of God from Psalm 150.

Praise the Lord!
Praise God in His sanctuary;
Praise Him in His mighty firmament!
Praise Him for His mighty acts;
Praise Him according to His excellent greatness!
Praise Him with the sound of the trumpet;
Praise Him with the lute and harp!
Praise Him with the timbrel and dance;
Praise Him with stringed instruments and flutes!
Praise Him with loud cymbals;
Praise Him with clashing cymbals!
Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.
Praise the Lord!

Psalm 150 is an extended and exuberant command to give praise to the Lord. In our time together this morning:

We will begin with an overview of the psalm.

Then we will discuss how the psalm fits into the whole of the Psalter.

Finally, we will consider some applications of the psalm.

I. An Overview of the Psalm

Psalm 150 is the culmination of the Book of Psalms. It rises at the end of the Psalter as the highest peak of praise to God. Psalm 1 began by pointing us to God and His Word. If we are to be blessed and secure, we must find our delight “in the law of the Lord” and meditate on it “day and night.” We can trust God and be certain that all He has said and promised will come to pass. Throughout the psalms we venture into valleys, traverse trials, and overcome obstacles. But amidst all the petitions, pleas, cries, and laments; the psalms are lifting us heavenward, aiming for the summit of God’s glory. We reach that summit in Psalm 150. The message that rings loud and clear in the final psalm is that everything points toward and moves toward the glory of our faithful God.

All 13 lines of Psalm 150 prompt us to praise. The psalm answers four simple questions about praise. It teaches us—

Who to praise
Where to praise
Why praise
How to praise

A. Who to Praise

Verse 1 begins by answering the question: who to praise. The command is clear:

Praise the Lord! (Psalm 150:1)

The verb halal (to praise) occurs 13 times in Psalm 150, once in each of the 13 phrases. In every instance the object of our praise is the Lord. Twice—once at the beginning and once the end of the psalm—halal appears in the phrase Hallelujah. The phrase consists of the Pi’el (intensive) imperative (command) stem of the halal followed by Yah, a shortened form of Yaweh, the Old Testament name for the LORD. Ten times (in verses 1–5) halal occurs as a Pi’el (intensive) command: Praise! And once (in verse 6) it occurs as a Pi’el (intensive) verb in the phase “let…praise.”

We are to give our praise to the Lord. He alone is worthy of praise. In the end all praise will resound to Him.

B. Where to Praise

Verse 1 also answers the second question: where to praise.

Praise the Lord!
Praise God in His sanctuary;
Praise Him in His mighty firmament!
(Psalm 150:1)

We are commanded to praise God in His sanctuary and in His might firmament. Both earth and heaven are to be filled with praise to the Lord.

1. We are to praise God here on earth.

Praise God in His sanctuary! Here “sanctuary” refers to God’s dwelling place on earth. In the Old Testament God’s dwelling place with His people was the tabernacle (Exodus 29:43–46) and the Temple (1 Kings 8:27–30; Psalm 27:4; Ezekiel 43:1–7). We have in 1 Chronicles 5, a description of worship when Solomon dedicated the Temple in Jerusalem:

And it came to pass when the priests came out of the Most Holy Place (for all the priests who were present had sanctified themselves, without keeping to their divisions), and the Levites who were the singers, all those of Asaph and Heman and Jeduthun, with their sons and their brethren, stood at the east end of the altar, clothed in white linen, having cymbals, stringed instruments and harps, and with them one hundred and twenty priests sounding with trumpets—indeed it came to pass, when the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the Lord, and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of music, and praised the Lord, saying:

“For He is good,
For His mercy endures forever,”

that the house, the house of the Lord, was filled with a cloud, so that the priests could not continue ministering because of the cloud; for the glory of the Lord filled the house of God (1 Chronicles 5:11–14).

While worship at the Temple in the Old Testament was glorious, it was but a foreshadow of a much greater temple in the New Testament. In the Old Testament the Temple was confined to a single place. In the New it extends to the ends of the earth. God’s temple is now built with living stones. This temple is the church—the hearts of God’s gathered people. The praise that rings out from this sanctuary is heard around the world.

Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? (1 Corinthians 3:16)

Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord (Ephesians 2:19–21).

You also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ (1 Peter 2:5).

Jesus taught us to pray: “Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Luke 11:2). Earth is to be a reflection of heaven. Our praise of God on earth is but an echo of the praise resounding before God in heaven.

2. We are to praise God in heaven.

The NKJV reads “Praise Him in His mighty firmament!” The ESV has “praise him in his mighty heavens!” The firmament is the great expanse above the earth—the heavens. God is praised in His sanctuary (in the temple where He has promised to manifest His presence on earth) and in His mighty firmament (in the heavens). Praise before the throne of God in heaven is ceaseless. The angelic beings “do not rest day or night” giving God “glory and honor and thanks.”

The four living creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes around and within. And they do not rest day or night, saying:

“Holy, holy, holy,
Lord God Almighty,
Who was and is and is to come!”

Whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying:

“You are worthy, O Lord,
To receive glory and honor and power;
For You created all things,
And by Your will they exist and were created.”
(Revelation 4:8–11)

Music and praise play a significant role in heavenly worship. In Revelation 5 John gives us another glimpse of the angelic beings and the redeemed singing praise in heaven.

Now when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying:

“You are worthy to take the scroll,
And to open its seals;
For You were slain,
And have redeemed us to God by Your blood
Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation,
And have made us kings and priests to our God;
And we shall reign on the earth.”

Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures, and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice:

“Worthy is the Lamb who was slain
To receive power and riches and wisdom,
And strength and honor and glory and blessing!”

And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard saying:

“Blessing and honor and glory and power
Be to Him who sits on the throne,
And to the Lamb, forever and ever!”

Then the four living creatures said, “Amen!” And the twenty-four elders fell down and worshiped Him who lives forever and ever(Revelation 5:8–14).

Praise to God (the sound of voices as well as the sound of musical instruments) fills the heavens. Psalm 150 envisions the earth filled with such praise, fulfilling the words Jesus taught us to pray: “Your Kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” The songs of praise before God’s throne in heaven set the pattern for our praise of God on earth. As reflected in Psalm 150, praise spreads and grows until it encompasses the sound of “every creature.”

C. Why Praise

Verse 2 explains the reason for our praise—because of who God is and what He has done.

1. We praise God for what He has done.

We praise God “for His mighty acts.” Since the time of creation, when the morning stars sang together and the angels shouted for joy (Job 38:7), God has accompanied His works with praise. The Song of Moses and the Song of Miriam celebrated God’s victory over Pharaoh and the Egyptian army at the Red Sea (Exodus 15:1–21). Praise adorned Christ’s incarnation with the Magnificat of Mary (1:46–55), the Benedictus of Zecharias (1:68–79) the Gloria of the angels (2:14) and the Nunc Dimittis of Simeon (2:29–32). Musical praise in heaven joins instruments and voices in singing both the Song of Moses (praise rooted in the Old Covenant) and the Song of the Lamb (praise rooted in the New Covenant).

And I saw something like a sea of glass mingled with fire, and those who have the victory over the beast, over his image and over his mark and over the number of his name, standing on the sea of glass, having harps of God. They sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying:

“Great and marvelous are Your works,
Lord God Almighty!
Just and true are Your ways,
O King of the saints!
Who shall not fear You, O Lord, and glorify Your name?
For You alone are holy.
For all nations shall come and worship before You,
For Your judgments have been manifested.”
(Revelation 15:2–4)

God is at work in every place. No one person or nation or culture can declare all His praise.

Praise the Lord!
Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good!
For His mercy endures forever.
Who can utter the mighty acts of the Lord?
Who can declare all His praise?
(Psalm 106:1–2)

And God is at work in every age. No one generation can tell the whole story. Each age must add its voice and recount the wonders of all God has done and is doing.

One generation shall praise Your works to another,
And shall declare Your mighty acts.
I will meditate on the glorious splendor of Your majesty,
And on Your wondrous works.
Men shall speak of the might of Your awesome acts,
And I will declare Your greatness.
They shall utter the memory of Your great goodness,
And shall sing of Your righteousness.
(Psalm 145:4–7)

We must praise God for what He has done. But we must also praise Him for who He is.

2. We praise God for who He is.

We are to praise and worship God “according to His excellent greatness!” Recounting God’s mighty acts will fuel our praises for an eternity, but pondering His excellent greatness—this is a task that could not be accomplished in a multitude of eternities! David declares in Psalm 145:

I will extol You, my God, O King;
And I will bless Your name forever and ever.
Every day I will bless You,
And I will praise Your name forever and ever.
Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised;
And His greatness is unsearchable.
(Psalm 145:1–3)

Paul agrees!

Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!

“For who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has become His counselor?”
“Or who has first given to Him
And it shall be repaid to him?”
For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen (Romans 11:33–36).

Our praise of God will be unending. We will forever have reason to offer God abundant praise!

D. How to Praise

The final four verses tell us how to praise.

Praise Him with the sound of the trumpet;
Praise Him with the lute and harp!
Praise Him with the timbrel and dance;
Praise Him with stringed instruments and flutes!
Praise Him with loud cymbals;
Praise Him with clashing cymbals!
Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.
Praise the Lord!
(Psalm 150:3–6)

We are to praise God with musical instruments of every kind and with voices of every kind.

1. We praise God with instruments of every kind.

Musical instruments can be found in the early pages of Genesis. In Chapter 4 the harp and flute are listed in the description of the three original trades of human society: farmer, musician, and craftsman (agriculture, art, and industry).

Then Lamech took for himself two wives: the name of one was Adah, and the name of the second was Zillah. And Adah bore Jabal. He was the father of those who dwell in tents and have livestock. His brother's name was Jubal. He was the father of all those who play the harp and flute. And as for Zillah, she also bore Tubal-Cain, an instructor of every craftsman in bronze and iron. And the sister of Tubal-Cain was Naamah (Genesis 4:19–22).

These same three trades are removed by God in final pages of Scripture when He brings judgment on the world (Babylon) in Revelation 18.

Then a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying, “Thus with violence the great city Babylon shall be thrown down, and shall not be found anymore. The sound of harpists, musicians, flutists, and trumpeters shall not be heard in you anymore. No craftsman of any craft shall be found in you anymore, and the sound of a millstone shall not be heard in you anymore (Revelation 18:21–22).

The sound of musical instruments, the sound of craftsman at work, and the sound of the millstone grinding grain, are all evidence of God’s blessing. In Revelation 18, John equates their absence with God’s judgement.

Music is a gift of God, designed for our good and for God’s glory. In Psalm 150 we see music attaining its highest purpose. We hear all types of musical instruments being used to praise the Lord.

Idiophones: instruments that produce sounds by vibrating themselves (cymbals)
Membranophones: instruments that produce sound by a vibrating membrane (timbrel)
Chordophones: instruments that produce sound by vibrating strings (lute, harp, and stringed instruments)
Aerophones: instruments that produce sound by vibrating columns of air (trumpet and flute)

Spurgeon said in his commentary on this verse in the Treasury of David:

“Praise high upon the loud cymbals: praise him upon the high sounding cymbals. Let the clash of the loudest music be the Lord's: let the joyful clang of the loftiest notes be all for him. Praise has beaten the timbrel, swept the harp, and sounded the trumpet, and now for a last effort, awakening the most heavy of slumberers, and startling the most indifferent of onlookers, she dashes together the disks of brass, and with sounds both loud and high proclaims the glories of the Lord (Spurgeon, Psalm 150:5 from Treasury of David).

Other commentators agree.

“Every conceivable instrument is to be employed in the worship of Jehovah: wind, strings, and percussion (compare Psalm 81:1–3).” —John Stott in Favorite Psalms, 111.

“Let us have clashing cymbals, not only well tuned, but loud, and dances too (150:5).” C.S. Lewis, “‘The Fair Beauty of the Lord,’” Reflections on the Psalms (1958)

We also see something else in verse 4 that may make some of us a little uncomfortable.

Praise Him with the timbrel and dance (Psalm 150:4)

What does the psalmist mean in this verse by “dance”? We often associate the term with movement that is structured (an artistic form to watch like ballet or modern dance). That meaning is not necessarily implied here. Nor is the psalmist referring to dance that is sensual with immodest overtones. Rather, here dance is included in the act of making music itself. It is used in the broader sense of “moving the body to music.” While some people and cultures are rather reserved in their physical expressions of worship, most are not. The majority of God’s people around the world and down through the ages would think it very strange, if not impossible, to sing praise to God while standing still.

2. We praise God with voices of every kind.

Finally we hear voices—everything that has breath. The culmination of God’s praise is not the accompanying instruments, but the voices they serve. As the gospel goes forth, conquering hearts and lives, new voices are added to God’s praise. There is a new song. God’s design for music in worship is “everything that has breath”—every person called to praise the Lord—every culture, musical style, and musical instrument sanctified for God’s glory and God’s purposes.

Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands!
Serve the Lord with gladness;
Come before His presence with singing.
(Psalm 100:1–2)

II. How does this psalm fit into the whole of the Psalter?

The placement of Psalm 150 at the end of the Psalter is intentional and imperative. It sets an exclamation mark on God’s praise in the Old Testament and establishes the marching orders for God’s praise in the New Testament. It completes the book of Psalms in three important ways:

A. It magnifies God and the greatness of His glory.

The psalms are a paradigm of life and worship for the people of God. Everything points toward and moves toward the glory of God.

The book of Psalms begins with wisdom, teaching us to forsake the way of the ungodly and follow the way of the righteous. But the path leading to righteousness is not easy. We journey through a sinful world where there are snares and dangers at every turn. Early in the psalms there are frequent prayers, petitions, and cries for help. There is grief and lament and mourning. But as the psalms draw to a close, the sorrow and desperation fades. God’s glory outshines every trial and trouble. Every cry is turned to praise.

The book of Psalms ends with a crescendo of praise. As we look to God in every circumstance, as He provides, sustains, upholds, and delivers, all of life is aimed to His glory and praise.

Though the journey is hard, we can be assured that God will one day complete that good work that he has begun in us (Philippians 1:6). One day we will be able to see the full and final story. We will understand God’s purposes in allowing the darkness and difficulties we face. One day all will culminate in His glory and praise.

You have turned for me my mourning into dancing;
You have put off my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness,
To the end that my glory may sing praise to You and not be silent.
O Lord my God, I will give thanks to You forever.
(Psalm 30:11–12)

B. It displays creation and the breadth of God’s praise

God is spreading His praise from the courts of heaven to the ends of the earth. It is not enough that the angels sang God’s praise at creation. It is not enough that Israel sang His praise at the Exodus and in His Temple. He would have His praise spread to the ends of the earth.

According to Your name, O God,
So is Your praise to the ends of the earth;
Your right hand is full of righteousness.
(Psalm 48:10)

How will God’s praise reach the ends of the earth? It will be accomplished through His Son! Jesus will not just be a Messiah for Israel. He will be the Savior for the world (1 John 4:14).

Isaiah reveals to us God’s greater purpose in Christ’s coming.

Indeed He says,
‘It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant
To raise up the tribes of Jacob,
And to restore the preserved ones of Israel;
I will also give You as a light to the Gentiles,
That You should be My salvation to the ends of the earth.’ ”
(Isaiah 49:6)

C. It anticipates Christ and the triumph of the gospel

Psalm 150 anticipates the coming of Christ and foresees the day when God’s praise will cover the earth. Jesus said that “all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me” (Luke 24:44). This psalm, like all the psalms, points us to Christ. The final words of Psalm 150 anticipate Christ’s words in the Great Commission. The psalmist calls upon “everything that has breath” to “praise the Lord.” In Mark 16:15 Jesus commands His disciples to “go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” We are to “go therefore and make disciples of all the nations” (Matthew 28:19). Psalm 150 finds its ultimate fulfillment in the conquering grace of Christ displayed in His church.

Church history is a testimony to the fulfillment of Psalm 150. God is at work sanctifying instruments and voices from every tribe and tongue, culture and nation for His glory. He is continually adding new voices, new instruments, new cultures, and new songs to the tapestry of His praise through the ages.

The fulfillment of Psalm 150, however, has not been without opposition. Satan has been enraged and at war with church since its beginning (Revelation 12). It has been his scheme to thwart the spread of God’s praise. He has attempted to shroud the world in darkness so that men remain blind to truth. He has sought to hinder the spread of the gospel so that men remain in bondage to their sin. He has sought to distort truth about God so that men believe and sing lies. And he has cast doubt on music (especially the use of musical instruments) miring them in sinful associations.

In the early days of the church, many musical instruments from Greek and Roman culture were associated with pagan worship and pagan cults. The aulos (a wind instrument like the flute) was used in the worship of the goddess Diana. The lyre (a stringed instrument) was said to be played by the Greek god Apollo. Many Christian writers and commentators of the first three centuries condemned such instruments based on their associations with pagan rituals. Some presented farfetched explanations and allegories in an attempt to reinterpret passages like Psalm 150, that include clear commands to worship God with musical instruments. (An excellent resource is: Music in Early Christian Literature by James McKinnon, Cambridge University Press, 1987.)

Throughout the history of the church, well-intended arguments have been made that certain musical instruments are incompatible with worship. Some have tried to constrict the Regulative Principle so that it excludes the use of musical instruments in the church altogether. Drums, guitars, banjos, kazoos, and even the piano have been scorned and disparaged.

One musical instrument that was slow to be accepted by the church to accompany praise to God was the organ. This may be surprising, since today the organ is regarded as the grandest musical instrument of the church.

The organ was invented around the 3rd century BC. Back then it was designed to use water rather than air in the pipes and was called the hydraulis. The water organ was quite loud and was used most prominently in the amphitheaters.

During the time of the Roman Empire it was used to accompany the processions and events at the gladiatorial games. Some ballparks today use the organ in a similar way to create a festive atmosphere—to signal and stir up the crowd. It was to the celebrative sounds of the organ that many Christians were paraded in before cheering crowds to be martyred.

So you can imagine the difficulties with association that early Christians must have had whenever someone finally had the idea to introduce the organ into church as a worship instrument. How could this instrument that accompanied so much death, ever be used in worship?

But God had a purpose for the pipe organ. He designed to rescue that instrument and use it for His glory. Rome was sacked in 410 and the empire fell over the next 150 years. The organ was finally brought into the church around 7th century AD—well after the fall of Rome. It was not until the 1300s that the first organ was permanently installed in a church. But for hundreds of years after, the pipe organ was a prominent instrument in carrying the praise of God’s people. (from Thoughts on Music and Worship)

The reality is that there are no musical instruments that cannot be used to worship God, only instruments that are incompatible with our comfort zone and expectations as to what worship music should sound like.

Certainly, we want to use music wisely. We want to be like the sons of Issachar and have “an understanding of the times” (1 Chronicles 12:32). We want to employ music in ways that will adorn worship and serve our singing, not hinder worship and obscure the words we are singing. The inscriptions on the psalms in Scripture teach us to be intentional in our musical arrangements. In an earlier study on the Psalm Inscriptions, I concluded:

The psalms set a musical precedent for worship that God will accomplish in fuller measure in the New Testament through the church. Throughout church history, God has added and continues to add many musical styles and sounds to His praise. As the gospel goes out in the power of God’s Spirit, conquering hearts and lives, people from each generation and from every tribe and tongue and nation add their voice to the music of the church. There is not one sound that is solely sacred, but a vast array of musical composition that God is weaving into a tapestry of praise for His glory. (from Lessons from the Psalm Inscriptions: Titles of Interpretation).

The sanctification of music—musical expression, musical styles, musical instruments—to the praise and glory of God is an outcome of the spread of the gospel and fulfillment of the Great Commission.

Some will still ask: Where are the musical instruments in the New Testament? Where in the New Testament do we find precedent for using them in the church? Musical instruments are there, of course. They are inherent in the New Testament fulfillment of God’s commands to fill the earth with His praise. They are implied in Paul’s admonitions to sing “psalms and hymns and spiritual songs” (Colossians 3:16; Ephesians 5:19). And they are explicit in John’s descriptions of music in heaven (Revelation 5:8; 8:2, 6; 9:14; 14:2, and 15:2). But it should come as no surprise that the New Testament doesn’t provide an orchestration for music in the church. The New Testament emphasizes the spiritual nature of worship and sees it spread to the ends of the earth. Unlike the worship music of the Old Testament that was specific to one place (the tabernacle / Temple), music in the New Testament is adaptable to every place—everywhere there is breath!

We don’t have descriptions as to how to build our buildings and worship spaces.
We don’t have orders of worship to plan and design our services.
And we don’t have specific instruments designated as necessary and sacred.

There may be times when the church is not able to use musical instruments. They may be scarce. There may not be skilled musicians available to play them. Most of the first three centuries of the church, believers faced severe persecution and had to worship in secret. Loud instruments and music would have needlessly attracted attention.

As the gospel goes out and conquers hearts and lives, where there are musical instruments, they should be sanctified and employed for God’s praise. Where there are no musical instruments, God can still be worshipped with voices alone. He is sovereignly orchestrating His praise throughout the ages and around the world. All glory is His!

III. Some Applications of the Psalm

In closing, I have three brief applications of this psalm.

A. We must be a people who praise the Lord.

The command in this psalm is clear. We must be a people who worships God and gives Him praise. This is not just a command for ancient Israel. It’s not a command bound only to the Old Covenant. It’s a command that belongs to all of God’s people—it belongs to the church. Indeed, only in Christ and with the spread of His gospel in the New Testament can the glorious vision of Psalm 150 ever be realized.

God is worthy of all praise. No one voice is sufficient. No one place, age, or musical style can fully express His excellent greatness and tell of His mighty acts. God continues to gift His church with many able musicians to lead and accompany music in worship. He calls everyone—“everything that has breath”—to join in praising Him. We must be faithful in our day to add our voices, tune our instruments, and use the musical gifts God has given us to praise the Lord.

B. We must be a people who know the Lord.

We should all be students of theology. There is perhaps no greater mandate for studying theology that Psalm 150. We are called to praise God “according to His excellent greatness.” To do this we must know God. We must learn and rejoice in His attributes. We must love and delight in His Person. And we must praise God “for His mighty acts.” We must see His handiwork in creation and marvel at His mercy in salvation. We must wonder at His steadfast love as He rescues and redeems His people. Psalm 48 concludes with a beautiful exhortation to know the Lord:

Walk about Zion, and go all around her.
Count her towers;
Mark well her bulwarks;
Consider her palaces;
That you may tell it to the generation following.
For this is God, our God forever and ever;
He will be our guide even to death.
(Psalm 48:12–14)

C. We must be a people who make the Lord known.

It is not enough that we worship and know the Lord. We must make Him known. We are called to be a people who share the good news of the gospel. All of history is moving toward the day when every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord (Philippians 2:10–11). We must continue to point people to Christ and to the hope that is found only in Him.

May God strengthen our efforts to praise Him and tell others of His excellent greatness. May His Kingdom come and His will be done on earth as it is in heaven. May His gospel go forth in power and reach many hearts, lives, nations, and cultures. And as His Kingdom advances, may He add many more voices and instruments to His praise!

Let us pray.

The Sounds of Conquering Grace

   Come and hear the grand design of God
         The sounds of conquering grace
      For everywhere His gospel goes
         His praises fill that place!
            Ev'ry tribe and tongue and voice
            Praising God with joyful noise
         Filling every place—
         It's the sound of grace!

(from "The Sounds of Conquering Grace" by Ken Puls)

Of "Psalm 150: The Sound of Worship"

Above image from Unsplash

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