Key Verses
Praise him with a blast of the ram’s horn; praise him with the lyre and harp! Praise him with the tambourine and dancing; praise him with strings and flutes! Praise him with a clash of cymbals; praise him with loud clanging cymbals.
Let everything that breathes sing praises to the Lord! Praise the Lord! (NLT)
Commentary
The psalmist doesn’t want to the book of psalms to conclude with a whisper but with a loud noise. From the loud blast of the ram’s horns to the quieter strings of the lyre and the harp, to the rowdiness of the tambourines and dancing, to the piercing melodies of the strings and the flutes and the resounding clash of the cymbals – this is loud praise!
With this the one hundred and fiftieth and final psalm, there is nothing else that needs to be said but much praise to God is called for. The variety of instruments bringing praise to God is a metaphor for the diversity of all living things as the psalmist calls for everything that has breath to sing praises to God.
If we have breath in our lungs then we ought to praise the Lord, no matter what else is happening in our lives, this one thought should overtake them all – God is worthy of all praise. One of the hymns puts it like this: ‘It’s your breath in our lungs so we pour out our praise to you only.’ Let us give God praise today and every day! Amen!
Prayer of Response
O Praise Worthy God, I thank you that every breath I take has been given to me by you, and I want to praise you for the gift of life you have given to me.
I thank you for every one of these one hundred and fifty psalms, Lord. They have spoken to me and supported me through this period of lockdown. The varied emotions have at times matched where I have been, and I thank for every encouragement you give to me.
In Jesus name, Amen.