Thursday, June 30, 2005

Today Our Daily Bread Psalm 150

Psalms 150: 1 - 6
1 Praise the LORD! Praise God in his heavenly dwelling; praise him in his mighty heaven!
2 Praise him for his mighty works; praise his unequaled greatness!
3 Praise him with a blast of the trumpet; praise him with the lyre and harp!
4 Praise him with the tambourine and dancing; praise him with stringed instruments and flutes!
5 Praise him with a clash of cymbals; praise him with loud clanging cymbals.
6 Let everything that lives sing praises to the LORD! Praise the LORD!

Strong's Number: 01984
Original Word for "Praise"
Word Origin
Llh (Hebrew)
a primitive root
Transliterated Word
Entry
Halal
TWOT - 499,500
Phonetic Spelling
Parts of Speech
haw-lal'
Verb
Definition
to shine
(Qal) to shine (fig. of God's favour)
(Hiphil) to flash forth light
to praise, boast, be boastful
(Qal)
to be boastful
boastful ones, boasters (participle)
(Piel)
to praise
to boast, make a boast
(Pual)
to be praised, nts~e made praiseworthy, be commended, be worthy of praise
(Hithpael) to boast, glory, make one's boast
(Poel) to make a fool of, make into a fool
(Hithpoel) to act madly, act like a madman
~Lena's Comments ~
I guess the last verse defines praise in its rightful use and states why some may not participate. It says all who are alive - Praise the Lord! Praise is an action word, an active response, a celebratory action. The world finds ways and people to celebrate all of the time, why would we, who were created by God Most High, not be exploding with thankfulness and exuberant praise? Only the curse of death can cause anyone to not express love in an outward action. If we’ve been dead, He’s made us alive, by His resurrecting power. He asks us to be alive unto Him and dead to sin. Sin should be what gets no response from us, not God and His greatness, not the Lord and His excellent deeds! Dead to sin, alive in praise to God! If we are alive to sin in that we respond to its call and we express ourselves towards its leadership, we just need to wake up and intentionally divert our attentions elsewhere- on God and all that He is. To whom or whatever we give praise, we also give attention to and we give service to and we give our lives to. Let’s rise up and praise Him!