Psalms 150:1-6: a reflection

This last of the psalms is an all-out summons to praise God, with every instrument and every breath, for who he is and what he has done. Praise the LORD, it begins, and repeats the call again and again: praise him for his acts of power, praise him according to his excellent greatness, praise him with trumpet and harp, with tambourine and dancing, with strings and flute and cymbals. And it ends with the widest summons of all: let everything that has breath praise the LORD. The psalm holds nothing back: praise God fully, with everything, with every instrument, with your whole being, everyone who has breath, for his greatness and his mighty deeds. This shows the call to praise God fully and with your whole being. Praise God fully, with everything and your whole being. Let everything in you praise God; hold nothing back. Praise God for his greatness and all he has done. Every breath is meant to praise the LORD.

Notice the exuberant fullness of this summons to praise. The psalm does not call for a small, restrained, or half-hearted praise; it calls for praise that holds nothing back. Praise God, it says, and then piles up the ways: for his acts of power, for his excellent greatness; with trumpet, harp, and lyre; with tambourine and dancing; with strings and flute; with loud, resounding cymbals. Every instrument, every form, is summoned into the praise of God. And the psalm ends by widening the call to its fullest: let everything that has breath praise the LORD. This is praise offered with the whole being, by everyone who lives. This holds a lesson about how we are to praise God. Our praise of God can be small, restrained, half-hearted, offered grudgingly or in passing. But this psalm summons us to a fuller praise: to praise God with everything we are and have, holding nothing back, with our whole being, for his greatness and all he has done. God is worthy of such full, wholehearted, exuberant praise; and we, who have breath, are made to give it. To praise God fully, with everything, is fitting for so great a God, and is what we are made for. We do well to praise God fully and wholeheartedly, with everything we are, holding nothing back, as this psalm summons everything that has breath to do. Praise God fully and wholeheartedly, with everything you are. Do not offer God a small or half-hearted praise; hold nothing back. God is worthy of full, exuberant praise. Every breath you have is meant to praise the LORD.

That is worth taking to heart, for God is worthy of full, wholehearted praise, and we, who have breath, are made to give it, as this psalm summons everything that has breath to praise the LORD. We can offer God a small, restrained, half-hearted praise; but this psalm calls for praise with every instrument and every breath, holding nothing back. Praise him fully. Do not offer God a grudging or half-hearted praise; praise him fully and wholeheartedly, with everything you are, for his greatness and all he has done, as everything that has breath is summoned to do. Praise God fully and wholeheartedly, with everything you are and have, holding nothing back, for his greatness and all he has done, as this last of the psalms is an all-out summons to praise God with every instrument and every breath, beginning praise the LORD and repeating the call again and again, to praise him for his acts of power and his excellent greatness, with trumpet, harp, tambourine, dancing, strings, flute, and cymbals, and ending with the widest summons of all, that everything that has breath praise the LORD; for the psalm holds nothing back, calling us to praise God fully with everything and our whole being, which shows how we are to praise God, since our praise can be small, restrained, and half-hearted, offered grudgingly or in passing, but this psalm summons us to a fuller praise, to praise God with everything we are and have, holding nothing back, for his greatness and all he has done, since God is worthy of such full, wholehearted, exuberant praise and we who have breath are made to give it, so that to praise God fully with everything is fitting for so great a God and is what we are made for, and we do well to praise God fully and wholeheartedly, with everything we are, holding nothing back.