GASP, SPLUTTER, AND BLOW
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Opening Prayer
Lord Jesus, thank you for your church, for the privilege and freedom that is mine to worship you together with other believers and, with them, be a part of your kingdom work.
Read PSALM 150
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
Psalm 150
1 Praise the Lord.[a]
Praise God in his sanctuary;
praise him in his mighty heavens.
2 Praise him for his acts of power;
praise him for his surpassing greatness.
3 Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet,
praise him with the harp and lyre,
4 praise him with timbrel and dancing,
praise him with the strings and pipe,
5 praise him with the clash of cymbals,
praise him with resounding cymbals.
6 Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.
Praise the Lord.
Footnotes
- Psalm 150:1 Hebrew Hallelu Yah; also in verse 6
New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
Take a moment to breathe. Breathe in God’s tender love for you today. Breathe out your response to him.
Praise the Lord! You need breath to blow the trumpet with purposeful poise, to clash cymbals together with both arms, to shake a tambourine in rhythm, to hold a harp steady for delicate plucking. When you praise God, it is a whole-body offering of energy and eloquence. Imagine: today God’s people in worship join the angels in their heavenly chorus. There is a collective gasp as the universe reverberates with exquisite harmony and unending melody.
Praise the Lord! He gifted you that breath as he kissed you into life. Each second, he does it again, whispering, ‘Live! Fill your lungs, your blood vessels, your cells, your very bones with my life-giving oxygen. Inhale my goodness. Remember I am even closer to you than this breath pulsating through the marvelous, mortal body I crafted. As you exhale your praise, you are uniting with every creature across the planet and the centuries in adoration.’
Psalm 150 brings this biblical hymn book to a noisy, glorious finale. We have sung out our heartaches and hallelujahs, our anger and anguish, our pleading and petition, our questions and quandaries, our wonder and worship. The psalms reflect our evolving relationship with God throughout the years. They give full-bodied voice to our emotional responses as we live out our days in a wonderful, sin-scarred world. They express trust in our Creator, who saves and satisfies in abundance. Now, this has to be the last word, as our multifaceted experiences are all gathered up into one exuberant call: praise this matchless Lord of heaven and earth! Praise this God of mighty power and tender loving care! Grab any instrument and throw yourself into celebrating his greatness! Pour out your breath, all you have, and all you are into jubilant song. Praise the Lord!
Apply
“… he breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’”1 What does it mean to you today to have God’s breath on you and in you?
Closing prayer
I join my heart and voice with all of the redeemed and the angels, Lord God, to praise you today.
1 John 20:22
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