Psalm 148:1-5 (ESV)
Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord from the heavens;
praise him in the heights!
[2] Praise him, all his angels;
praise him, all his hosts!
[3] Praise him, sun and moon,
praise him, all you shining stars!
[4] Praise him, you highest heavens,
and you waters above the heavens!
[5] Let them praise the name of the Lord!
For he commanded and they were created.
Praise God – where? Verse 1 – from the heavens. Verse 7 will then add “from the earth”. The whole created order is the place from which to praise God. We are never out of the presence of God and we are always able to see things that should result in praise to Him.
Praise God – who? Verse 2 – The creatures of heaven, as glorious as they are, cannot begin to approach the glory of the One who made them. Their purpose, above all that they are given to do by God, is to praise God.
Praise God – what? Verse 3 – The creation itself is designed to praise God. (See Psalm 19:1) This obviously does not mean that the sun and the moon can actually shout the praises of God. What it does mean is that we can praise God when we observe what He has made. The sun praises God in that its beauty and power and wonders point us to an immensely marvelous God. The creation speaks and tells us to praise God.
Praise God – Why? Verse 5 – Because God made everything by the word of His command. The fact that God created all that exists is cause to praise Him. All that exists owes its existence to their Creator. All that exists, exists by the divine fiat of God. He uttered all things into being. And He did it so that He would be glorified. To not praise God is to live counter to the purposes for which we were made. It is to live as a square peg in a round hole.
Anything that does not live for the praise of the Creator does not operate properly. The world is testimony to the fact that it does not operate properly. All the solutions of mankind to fix wars and strife and pollution and disease etc. without reference to God is only a demonstration of doing more of that which caused the problem in the first place. That fact that God is the Creator of all things is testimony that only in Him can we find real purpose and real happiness.
The truth that God has created everything is more than a piece of information. It is a declaration of how we are to live. He made everything and that necessarily means that we should live for the praise of His glory.
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