From the Earth

Psalm 148 contd

Praise the Lord from the earth, you great sea creatures and all ocean depths,  lightning and hail, snow and clouds, stormy winds that do his bidding,  you mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars, wild animals and all cattle, small creatures and flying birds, kings of the earth and all nations, you princes and all rulers on earth, young men and women, old men and children.

Wow, that pretty much covers everyone and everything in God’s creation, right?

It seems that sometimes we think we’re only praising God if we’re in a church-type setting, if we’ve got our eyes closed, our hands lifted, and our thoughts in the clouds.  That kind of praising God is good and a blessing.

But the everyday praising the Lord by breathing, obeying, producing fruit, moving, eating from his hand, enjoying our surroundings, etc. is just as important and necessary as the quite worshipful times in a congregation.  In fact, the lifestyle of praising the Lord is sustaining, fulfilling, and certainly pleasing to our Lord.

My favorite part of this passage is “that do his bidding.”

That’s really what praise is all about, just doing what he asks us to do, what we are created to do, what we are able to do…while responding to the God who loves us.

Praise the Lord.