1 Praise the Lord!
Praise, O servants of the Lord,
    praise the name of the Lord!

2 Blessed be the name of the Lord
    from this time forth and forevermore!
 

3 From the rising of the sun to its setting,
    the name of the Lord is to be praised!

4 The Lord is high above all nations,
    and his glory above the heavens!
 

5 Who is like the Lord our God,
    who is seated on high,
 

6 who looks far down
    on the heavens and the earth?
 

7 He raises the poor from the dust
    and lifts the needy from the ash heap,
 

8 to make them sit with princes,
    with the princes of his people.
 

9 He gives the barren woman a home,
    making her the joyous mother of children.
Praise the Lord!

We should all take a note from this Psalm- praising the Lord and encouraging each other to praise the Lord (vs 1).  It is what we were created for and the whole creation sings out his praises.  How much more should we as made in his image, sing out and glorify the Lord.   And why is the Lord so deserving of our praise?

First, He is deserving of our praise merely for who He is (vs 2-6) - designer, maker and governor of all creation.  Even if having done nothing for our salvation, would this not be alone enough worthy of our worship?  (Looking into this I would recommend A. W. Tozer’s book The Knowledge of the Holy).  In writing on the beauty of the Lords created firmament and the expression of Himself through it, and how impossible it is to try and comprehend it without “being overwhelmed by the immense weight of glory,” John Calvin writes in his Institutes of the Christian Religion, “From the power of God we are naturally led to consider his eternity, since that from which all other things derive their origin must necessarily be self-existent and eternal.  Moreover, if it be asked what cause induced him to create all things at first, and now inclines him to preserve them, we shall find that there could be no other cause than his own goodness.  But if this is the only cause, nothing more should be required to draw forth our love toward him; every creature, as the psalmist reminds us, participating in his mercy.  ‘His tender mercies are over all his works’ (Ps 145:9).” In just considering God and who He is should alone be enough to induce our worship, and cause us to praise him “from the rising of the sun to its setting (vs 3).” Augustine said, “Since we are unable to comprehend Him, and are, as it were, overpowered by His greatness, our proper course is to contemplate his works, and so refresh ourselves with His goodness.”

Second, He is deserving of our praise for the works that he has done (vs 7-9).  On this we can think of all He has done from Eden’s failure to the present in covenantal attachment.  He has looked upon sinful man and has made propitiation for him, redeemed him and reconciled him to himself.  He “raises the poor out of the dust and seats them with princes.”   Oswald Chambers preached, “Forgiveness means not merely that I am saved from hell and made right for heaven (no man would accept forgiveness on such a level); forgiveness means that I am forgiven into a recreated relationship, into identification with God in Christ.  The miracle of redemption is that God turns me, the unholy one, into the standard of Himself, the Holy one, by putting into me a new disposition, the disposition of Jesus Christ.”  What an amazing thing the Lords works!  And not just this, not just his grand works in and for his covenantal people, his church; but also his works in and about our everyday personal lives- His mighty hand in the mundane and the routine.  

Here are two great things to meditate on- God and His great works.  And in our meditation “Praise the Lord.”