PSALM 150
Praise HIM in verse 1
Praise ye the LORD
Praise God in HIS sanctuary
praise HIM in the firmament of HIS power
Praise HIM for verse 2
Praise HIM for HIS mighty acts
praise HIM according to HIS excellent greatness
Praise HIM with verse 3- 5
Praise HIM with the sound of the trumpet
praise HIM with the psaltery and harp
praise HIM with the timbrel and dance
praise HIM with stringed instruments and organs
praise HIM upon the loud cymbals
praise HIM upon the high sounded cymbals
Praise group verse 6
Let everything that hath breath praise the LORD
Praise ye the LORD
COMMENTARY:
DAILY SPIRITUAL BREAKFAST: Young Believers
: 1 Praise you the LORD. Praise God in his sanctuary: praise him in the firmament of his power. (7549 “firmament” [raqiya] means extended surface, expanse, stretched-out thinness, or space.)
DEVOTION: Our responsibility is to praise the LORD. One reason to praise the LORD is HIS creation of us and the world. One part of that creation is the heavens above us.
The Bible teaches that there are three heavens. The first heaven (firmament) is where the birds fly. The second heaven is where the sun, moon and stars are shining. It is thought that the angels live in the second heaven. The third heaven is believed to be where the throne of God is placed. This is based on the testimony of Paul when he said he was in the third heaven.
We know that God is omnipresent, so that, no place really contains HIM fully. When we are praising him in the place of HIS power – we are praising where HIS throne is located.
Our pictures of heaven are limited. However, we know that when we are in heaven we are in the presence of the glory of God. As human being the glory of God would kill us but as glorified beings we enjoy HIS glory.
We will praise God in heaven for all eternity. There are going to be other responsibilities given to us when we enter eternity but they are not revealed to us yet.
The angels all have responsibility now in heaven and on earth. At present, while we are here on this earth we have to be followers of the LORD in order to go to heaven. The basis of the group who are followers of the LORD is only on the blood of Jesus Christ on the cross. There is no other way or name under heaven that gains anyone access to heaven. Because we are followers we want to honor the LORD with our actions. Because we are followers of the LORD we use musical instruments to sing our praise to HIM.
We need to learn to praise the LORD here on earth, so that, we are ready to praise HIM properly in heaven. Many individuals who say they are followers of the LORD are really unprepared to enter heaven based on the way they look and sing on earth at present. Some would have to live another hundred years before they would be ready!
CHALLENGE: Don’t be one of those who need another hundred years to learn how to praise the LORD with your whole heart.
DAILY SPIRITUAL LUNCH: Transitional Believers
: 2 “Praise Him for His mighty acts; Praise Him according to His excellent greatness!” The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982). Greatness – 7230 רֹב [rob /robe/] n m. From 7231; TWOT 2099c; GK 8044; 155 occurrences; AV translates as “multitude” 70 times, “abundance” 35 times, “great” nine times, “greatness” eight times, “much” eight times, “abundantly” four times, “plenty” three times, “many” three times, “long” twice, “excellent” once, and translated miscellaneously 12 times. 1 multitude, abundance, greatness. 1A multitude. 1A1 abundance, abundantly. 1A2 numerous. 1B greatness. James Strong, Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2001).
DEVOTION: The ending of the story often brings a sense of climax and closure to the narrative that the author has been producing. The author here closes the psalms with a powerful command to praise the Lord! Why? Because of His mighty acts! Acts that brought the psalmist to fear and worship the Lord incessantly. Acts that re-enforced the truth of God’s power and greatness! The idea of greatness is the multitude of His greatness or His fullness of greatness! He continually demonstrates His greatness in His acts and demonstrations of His person. He is filled with holiness, justice, trustworthiness, and covenant-love. He is the Alpha and the Omega. He is the beginning and the end. Worship this great God. Our motives for praise are twofold. We praise God for what He has done, and we praise Him for who He is. [The Preacher’s Commentary Series, 531–532].
CHALLENGE: Contemplate who and what the Lord is in your life! Then praise Him for he alone is worthy! (Dr. Brian Miller – board member)
DAILY SPIRITUAL SUPPER: Mature Believers
: 3 Praise HIM with the sound of the trumpet: praise HIM with the psaltery and harp. (1984 “Praise” [halal] means to boast, to extol the greatness of a deity or the deity’s works as an act of worship, to admire, to exclaim Hallelulah.)
DEVOTION: The Bible throughout encourages believers to worship the LORD with our voice and with musical instruments. It gives us reasons why we should worship the LORD but the best reason is HIS provision of salvation and a promise of eternity with HIM after this life is over.
Most of us might not play a musical instrument but we have a voice whether on tune or off tune we can still sing praises to the LORD from our heart. HE understands our voices even if they are off key.
In the Old Testament there were many times that the children of Israel would walk a great distance to attend a worship service in Jerusalem. During their travels they would sing along the way.
We need to realize that we can praise the LORD outside of church by singing praises during our family devotionals if we can sing together. We can also praise the LORD on trips down the road going from one place or the other.
God wants HIS people to understand that HE accepts singing any time of day. HE wants us to understand that HE expects us to be happy in our service to HIM.
Too often some people look like they have been sucking sour lemons when they are in church and this shows in their willingness to sing praise.
Worship is to be a joyous time of praise whether we have been given a voice that is on key or off key. HE looks at our heart.
If the people around us don’t appreciate our singing it is their problem not yours. The LORD wants us to make a joyful noise in praise of HIM. If we do our best HE will be pleased.
CHALLENGE: Do you praise the LORD with your whole heart each time you are in a worship service in church? HE would like us to give HIM our best even if it is off key at times.
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: 6 Let everything that hath breath praise the LORD. Praise you the LORD. (5397 “breath” [nashamah] means inspiration, soul, spirit, life, unit of air, intellect or blast.
DEVOTION: Some commentators believe that man is made up of three parts: body, soul and spirit. Others believe that man is just a two part being with a body and a soul/spirit.
The Psalmist here is just saying that everything that has an intellect should be praising the LORD. The LORD created this world in six twenty-four hour periods about twelve thousand years ago. However, there is a group of people, who are in the minority, who believe that this world just happened from a one celled animal and over millions of years it became an intelligent human being. Now who is going by faith?
Our world was created to give glory to God according to the Bible. It is the Word of God to humans to live by while they are on this earth. They are eternal beings according to the Word of God. Some are going to spend eternity in heaven and others will spend eternity in the Lake of Fire with the Devil and his angels.
Now everyone who is a believer is to praise the LORD while they are here on the earth. Remember it is practice for when they go to heaven. One of the things that I will enjoy in heaven is the fact that I will be able to sing on key in heaven. Many move away from me while I am here on earth but that will change.
However, none can say that I don’t sing with my whole being when I sing. I make a joyful noise unto the LORD. All those who are in the same boat as I am in should do the same. There are many individuals whom the LORD has given a great voice who sit in the pews and do nothing when the songs of praises are sung. They find fault. They just don’t want to be bothered or they are out of tune with the LORD.
God expects HIS children to sing. God expects that they will sing with their whole heart to HIM each time they worship or even when they are away from a church building.
We have to ask ourselves if the LORD is expecting too much from us to sing so much and with such enthusiasm. The problem is that HE doesn’t think it is too much seems as how HE sent HIS Son Jesus to die on the cross for our sins. HE shed HIS blood for us.
CHALLENGE: Realize that part of the Christian life is singing praises to the LORD every chance we get. It will bring glory to HIS name.
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DISCIPLINES OF THE FAITH:
BODY
Chastity (Purity in living)
Fasting (Time alone with LORD without eating or drinking)
Sacrifice (Giving up something we want to serve the LORD)
Submission (Willing to listen to others and LORD)
Solitude (Going to a quiet place without anyone)
SOUL
Fellowship (Gathering together around the Word of God)
Frugality (wise use of resources)
Journalizing (Writing down what you have learned from the LORD)
Study and Meditation (Thinking through your study in the Word)
Secrecy (Doing your good deeds without others knowing but God)
SPIRIT
Celebration (Gathering around a special occasion to worship LORD)
Confession (Tell the LORD we are sorry for our sins on a daily basis)
Prayer (Conversation with God on a personal level)
Silence (Letting the LORD deal with some problems and needs)
Worship (Time to praise the LORD alone or in a group)
Praise verse 1- 6
Sanctuary verse 1
Firmament verse 1
Trumpet verse 3
Psaltery verse 3
Harp verse 3
Timbrel verse 4
Dance verse 4
Stringed instruments verse 4
Organs verse 4
Loud cymbals verse 5
High sounding cymbals verse 5
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DOCTRINES OF THE FAITH:
Scripture (66 inerrant books of the Bible)
God the Father (First person of the Godhead)
LORD – Jehovah (Covenant keeping, Personal) verse 1, 6
God – Elohim (Creator, Sovereign) verse 1
Power verse 1
Mighty acts verse 2
Excellent Greatness verse 2
God the Son (Second person of the Godhead –God/man, Messiah)
God the Holy Spirit (Third person of the Godhead – our comforter)
Trinity (Three persons of the Godhead who are co-equal = ONE God)
Angels (Created before the foundation of the world – Good and Evil)
Man (Created on the sixth twenty-four hour period of creation)
Everything that has breath verse 6
Individual has to praise the LORD verse 6
Sin (Missing the mark set by God on man and angels)
Salvation (Provided by Christ’s death on the cross for our sins)
Singing praise verse 1- 6
Church verse 1
Out of church sing praise verse 1
Israel (Old Testament people of God)
Church (New Testament people of God)
Last Things (Future Events)
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DONATIONS:
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QUOTES regarding passage
When it is used correctly, by God’s grace and for God’s glory, the human voice is the most perfect musical instrument in the world, but we find no prohibitions in Scripture against using man-made instruments in the worship of God. Instruments will be used in heaven (Rev. 5:8; 8:6–12), and there will also be singing (Rev. 5:9–14; 6:12; 11:16–18; 15:1–4; 16:5–7; 19:1–9). The psalmist seems to be describing an orchestra that has string instruments, percussion instruments, and wind instruments. The trumpet was the shofar or ram’s horn that the priests and Levites used (47:6; 98:6) along with the harp and lyre (1 Chron. 25:1). The timbrel was probably what we know today as the tambourine. It was usually played by the women to accompany their sacred dances (Ex. 15:20–21). There were two kinds of cymbals, smaller ones that gave a clear sound and larger ones that gave a loud sound. But the final verse sums it up. Whether you cna play an instruments or not, no matter where you live or what you ethnic origin, male or female, young or old—“Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!” After all, that breath comes from the Lord (Acts 17:25), and if things that do not have breath can praise the Lord (148:8–9), surely we can, too! Praise the Lord! (Wiersbe, W. W. (2004). Be exultant (1st ed., pp. 225–226). Colorado Springs, CO: Cook Communications Ministries.)
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Theological Significance. The psalms help today’s believers to understand God, themselves, and their relationship to God. The psalms picture God as the Creator, who is worthy of praise and is capable of using His creative might to rescue His people from current distress. The psalms picture God as the just Judge of all the world, who rewards the righteous and opposes the wicked. Prayers that God curse the enemies of the psalmist must be understood in part as affirmations of God’s justice and the certainty of His judgment. The psalms picture God as the faithful Friend of the oppressed. The psalms offer a refresher course in God’s faithfulness throughout Israel’s history. The psalms highlight God’s promises to David and his descendants, promises that are not finally realized until Christ.
The psalms picture the full range of human emotions: joy, despair, guilt, consolation, love, hate, thankfulness, and dissatisfaction. The psalms thus remind us that all of life is under God’s lordship. The psalms likewise illustrate the broad range of human responses to God: praise, confession, pleas for help, thanksgiving. The psalms thus serve as a source book for Christian worship, both public and private. (Garrett, D. A. (1998). The Poetic and Wisdom Books. In D. S. Dockery (Ed.), Holman concise Bible commentary (pp. 233–234). Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers.)
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Ver. 4. Praise him with the timbrel and dance, &c.] Or pipe; see the note on Psal. 149:3. Praise him with stringed instruments; or divers kinds of instruments not named, as R. Saadiah Gaon; and which, as Aben Ezra says, had all one sound or note; what they were is not known, as also many of them that are particularly mentioned. And organs; which have their name from the loveliness of their sound; these are of ancient original and use, Gen. 4:21; Job 21:12 and 30:31 but were not of the same kind with those now in use, which are of much later invention. (Gill, J. (1810). An Exposition of the Old Testament (Vol. 4, p. 327). London: Mathews and Leigh.)
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4. “Praise him with the timbrel and dance.” Associated with the deliverance at the Red Sea, this form of worship set forth the most jubilant and exultant of worship. The hands, and the feet were both employed, and the entire body moved in sympathy with the members. Are there not periods of life when we feel so glad that we would fain dance for joy? Let not such exhilaration be spent upon common themes, but let the name of God stir us to ecstasy. Let us exult as we cry,— “In the heavenly Lamb thrice happy I am, And my heart it doth dance at the sound of his name.” There is enough in our holy faith to create and to justify the utmost degree of rapturous delight. If men are dull in the worship of the Lord our God they are not acting consistently with the character of their religion. “Praise him with stringed instruments and organs.” We have here the three kinds of musical instruments: timbrels, which are struck, and strings, and pipes: let all be educated to praise the Lord. Nothing is common and unclean: all may be sanctified to highest uses. Many men, many minds, and these as different as strings and pipes; but there is only one God, and that one God all should worship. The word translated “organs” signifies pipe—a simpler form of wind instrument than the more modern and more elaborate organ. Doubtless many a pious shepherd has poured out gracious pastorals from a reed or oaten pipe, and so has magnified his God. (Spurgeon, C. H. (n.d.). The treasury of David: Psalms 120-150 (Vol. 6, p. 464). London; Edinburgh; New York: Marshall Brothers.)
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4. Praise him with the timbrel and dance: praise him with stringed instruments and organs. Timbrel, as in Ps. 149:3. Sec on Ps. 81:2. In Gen. 31:27, several times in Isaiah, once in Jeremiah and once in Ezekiel it is rendered tabret. The modern tambourine perhaps most resembles the tabret or timbrel of the Jews. On the dance see on Ps. 30:11; 149:3. For dance the margin has pipe. Stringed instruments, a general term not determining the form or shape, but only that they had strings. Organs, in the singular, organ; not found elsewhere in the Psalms, and but thrice in other books, Gen. 4:21; Job 21:12; 30:31. Gesenius gives it pipe reed, syrinx. It is through the Septuagint and kindred versions that we get the word organ, meaning a set or combination of pipes. (Plumer, W. S. (1872). Studies in the Book of Psalms: Being a Critical and Expository Commentary, with Doctrinal and Practical Remarks on the Entire Psalter (pp. 1209–1210). Philadelphia; Edinburgh: J. B. Lippincott Company; A & C Black.)
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FROM MY READING:
(Remember the only author that I totally agree with is the HOLY SPIRIT in the inerrant WORD OF GOD called THE BIBLE! All other I try to gleam what I can to help me grow in the LORD!!)
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Daily Hope
Numbers 35-36
God provides for the people He instructs to be stewards of His possessions. I had a professor at Moody Bible Institute that told his students the last thing he would discuss with a church while being interviewed for employment was the financial package. He felt that if God was calling him to a place of ministry, God also knew his family’s necessities.
As we conclude the book of Numbers, we are presented with the ways that God instructed the nation of Israel to care for the Levites and those who oversaw the tabernacle and later the temple. The Levites were assigned 48 cities which were given by the tribes so they could raise their families and pasture the livestock they had accumulated.
The cities were to be a designated size with pastureland surrounding them to accommodate animals. Six of these cities were designated as places of refuge where individuals could go when accidental or innocent blood was shed. Premeditated murder was to receive capital punishment with no sanctuary provided.
The final instructions of the book of Numbers cover tribal inheritance, boundaries and maintaining purity before the Lord. Previously, Manasseh had been confronted by daughters of Zelophehad maintaining the land rights of their father when no sons were in the family (Numbers 27:1-11). Here, it was further clarified the women were to be obedient to the law in order to maintain the ownership of the land within their father’s tribe.
The nation of Israel, disciples, and the churches through the centuries have all experienced God’s oversight of His people. During uncertainty and turmoil, the words of Jesus are a clarion-like promise, “‘… I will never leave you or forsake you.’ So we may boldly say; ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?'” (Hebrews 13:7-8). Draw comfort and strength from these promises God freely provides us to claim.
With an Expectant Hope,
Pastor Miller
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Assembling Together
“Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.” (Hebrews 10:25)
This verse is often cited as an incentive to regular church attendance, but it can also relate just as well to any gathering of two or more believers in Christ’s name. The Lord Jesus said: “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:20).
It is fascinating to note that the Greek word translated “assembling together” in this verse is used only one other time in the New Testament, and there it is translated “gathering together.” “Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him” (2 Thessalonians 2:1). In this verse, Paul was reminding the Thessalonians of his previous letter to them, in which he had written about the return of Christ and the gathering together of all believers to meet Him in the air (1 Thessalonians 4:15-17). Perhaps the writer of our text verse, since he was using the same unique terminology, was referring to the same event.
That is, whenever there is an assembling together of believers, it is in a sense a little preview of that great gathering in the skies when Christ returns, as we exhort one another to “look for him” (Hebrews 9:28), and so much the more, as we see the day approaching.
Since our text verse does not actually mention the church by name, it seems to apply to any assembling of believers. However, there is one very significant use of “church” in Hebrews, and it refers specifically to the coming meeting in the air, where we shall all gather at “the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect” (Hebrews 12:23)
(HMM, The Institute for Creation Research)
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We must focus on those things which are pure and good
INSIGHT
You are what you eat.” Your body reflects what you feed it. Eat well and your body rewards you with health. The same is true spiritually and mentally. We become like what we put into our minds and like what we allow our minds to dwell on. Paul encourages us to think about whatever is true, noble, just, pure, lovely, or of good report (v. 8). If you are unsatisfied with your spiritual, mental, or emotional development, ask yourself: “What do I put into my mind – what do I think about?” You may need a radical change in your spiritual diet. (Quiet Walk)
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Don’t Walk On By
All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness. 2 TIMOTHY 3:16
General Norman Schwarzkopf, the commander of operations for Desert Shield and Desert Storm in the early 1990s, exercised this simple premise of authority: A leader never walks by a mistake.
I think he’s got a point, not only in how to lead a military unit, but also in how we raise our children. Barbara and I have often talked about how much easier it would be to ignore our children’s shortcomings. We naturally wish to avoid the discomfort of confronting and correcting their selfish, sinful ways.
Some parents default to a soft, indulgent love, thinking their kids will grow up fine on an exclusive, pain-free diet of praise and permission. But the concept of “reproof ” that Paul used in the above certainly suggests pain.
“Reproof ” means pointing out a wrong, bringing someone to a place where he or she can admit what he or she has done. And there’s nearly always an element of pain involved in doing that.
Yet as writer James Litter has said, “One thought driven home is better than three left on base.” That’s really your assignment as parents: Drive home the key issues that need to be laid bare and exposed if your children are going to finish growing up. You must help them embrace these lessons while they’re young so that they won’t have to learn them in a much more painful way later on as adults.
Our culture today is rushed and weary. You may have so much going on that it’s difficult to slow down and address a defect in your child’s character. But if you’ve taken on the mantle of parenthood, you’ve also taken on the responsibility of bringing occasional pain into the life of each of your children—even as painful as it can be on you as a parent.
DISCUSS
Of course, you can’t discipline for everything. But be honest: Are there some issues in your children’s lives that you may be deliberately overlooking? Evaluate one another as parents in this area. (Dennis and Barbara Rainey, Moments with You Couples Devotional)
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HATED BY THE WORLD
Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you. 1 John 3:13
Let me put this as a historical fact. This is one of the great principles that we find in the Bible from the beginning. There are many people who have difficulty with this verse. If this is true of you, you have somehow failed to understand the first great essential divisions of the Bible. The difference between Cain and Abel was in Cain, not in Abel. Cain (the world) hates Abel (the Christian). Look at Joseph and his brethren. Look at David and Saul; read the story of how King Saul treated David and tried to get rid of him: the jealousy, envy, and malice. Look at the treatment that was meted out to the prophets, those men of God who were trying to save the nation. It is there everywhere.
Look at the supreme example of our Lord Himself. Here is the Son of God incarnate; here is the eternal life in the flesh. Look at the world sneering at Him, how they picked up stones to cast at Him, how they shouted, “Crucify Him, away with Him!” The world crucified the very Son of God who had come to save it! “Marvel not, my friends, if the world hate you.” The world does not hate you because you are hateful people; the case of Cain and Abel proves that. Cain did not hate his brother because there was something hateful about him. There was nothing hateful in Abel, but Cain hated him in spite of that.
Neither does the world hate us because we are good. Let us be quite clear about that. The world does not hate good people; the world only hates Christian people. That is the subtle, vital distinction. If you are just a good person, the world, far from hating you, will admire you; it will cheer you. And what is true of the individual is true of the whole Church. The world, we are told, hates Christians, not because they are hateful, not because they are good, not because they do good, but specifically because they are Christians, because they are of God, because they have Christ within them.
A Thought to Ponder: The world does not hate good people; the world only hates Christian people. (From Children of God, pp. 101-102, by Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones)
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Glenn Bloom III writes (NY): “Stop looking for the perfect church. Go worship a perfect God today with a congregation of flowed people who need grace as much as you do.”
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