Praise the Lord!

Psalm 145:1-5, 17-21

November 11, 2007

A country preacher sold a mule to a friend, and told him the mule was trained to go when the rider said "Praise the Lord," and to stop when the rider said, "Amen." The buyer mounted the beast and commanded, "Praise the Lord," and the mule shot off like a rocket. The startled rider panicked. "Whoa!" he screamed. The mule was headed straight for a cliff, "Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!" At the last second he remembered the minister’s instructions. "Amen!" he shouted, and the mule screeched to a halt right at the edge of the cliff. As the new owner peered over the precipice, he wiped his brow and sighed, "Praise the Lord." 

(Ted Sutherland http://www.sermoncentral.com )

Now, for those of you who are unsure of what happened next, we will have a remedial sermon session following the service.

Praise the Lord.  Say it with me, “Praise the Lord!”  Open your Bible with me to the book of Psalms, Psalm 145.  Part of the beauty of the Psalms is that they express so genuinely the depth and breadth of our human emotions, especially in regards to God, from deep anguish and uncertainty to thanksgiving and praise. 

Today’s scripture reading from Psalm 145 is the final psalm written by King David, and is a psalm of praise, declaring God as being the One who is worthy of our praise.  It is written as an alphabetic acrostic, where, in the original Hebrew, each verse begins with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet.  For instance, the first verse would begin with the letter “a,” the next with the letter “b,” and so forth.  This is a literary tool which would help the hearer—especially the illiterate—remember the content of the verses.  We sometimes utilize this same technique when we use an acrostic such as P.U.S.H., or Pray Until Something Happens.    

David, the writer of this psalm, begins the psalm with a personal declaration.  Look at verse 1: “I will exalt you, my God and King, I will praise your name for ever and ever.  Every day I will praise you and extol your name for ever and ever.” (vv.1-2, NIV)  David makes this psalm his personal vow, promising to praise God not only each day of his life, but for ever, even in the afterlife.

Although David writes this psalm in the first person, his personal declaration becomes a model and example for us in how we are to regard God—that we are to be in personal relationship with God, and to praise God every day, for ever and ever.  In your Bible, underline the beginning of verse 2, “Every day.”  Let it be a reminder for you.  We are to praise God every day!  In the Jewish tradition, this psalm is recited three times a day, every day, during morning, noonday, and evening prayers.  So let me ask you, how are we doing with our daily praise of God?  Sometimes, it’s even difficult to get folks to praise God in church!

In a more formal, liturgical church a visitor showed up one Sunday and got excited about something the minister said, and declared, “Amen, praise the Lord!” Someone tapped him on the shoulder and whispered, “We don’t praise the Lord in here.”  (Robert Leroe http://www.sermoncentral.com )

How sad is that?  You may have attended a church like that at some point, where liturgy supersedes acknowledging God.  But perhaps that begs the question, Why should I praise the Lord?  What do I have to be happy about?  In a world full of hardships, wars, global warming and diseases, what is there to praise God for?

Luckily, for those of us who face challenges in our lives—which, I believe, includes everyone here—and who may have asked ourselves this very question at one time or another, David gives us the answer.  We praise God for God’s providence and justice, for God’s presence and compassion in our lives. 

Look at verse 17 where David writes, “The Lord is righteous in all his ways and loving toward all he has made.” (NIV)  Underline “all he has made.”  Do you know what?  This means you!  Scripture tells us that we are created by God in God’s own image (Gen. 1:21), and here we see that God is loving toward everything which God has made.  In fact, not only do we find that God loves us, but also that God is nearby, near to “all who call on him in truth.”(v. 18)  This is how we are able to develop that personal relationship with God; this is why we can praise God from the height of our happiness and from the depths of our depression, because no matter where we are, God is there.  Nothing can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord! (Romans 8:39b)  Praise the Lord!

The faithfulness and love of God is most evident when we are facing times of trial in our lives.  Knowing that God is with us helps to praise God in the midst of the storm.  Those with strong faith are not deterred from praising God.

An elderly woman dearly loved her Lord. Often her cup of joy overflowed. A favorite expression of hers was, "Praise the Lord!" Often, in God’s house, when the minister preached, she would say, "Praise the Lord!" Sometimes, however, the minister was disturbed by this, and he would lose his line of thought— and so he considered how he might kindly discourage the old woman’s outbursts.

The woman was very poor, and therefore the minister had an idea. He offered her a parcel of groceries every month on behalf of the Benevolent Fund if she would only refrain from saying, "Praise the Lord!" during his sermons. She greatly needed the groceries, so she did her best to earn them on the minister’s terms. For many Sundays, she kept perfectly quiet during the sermon. One day, however, the minister preached on forgiveness of sin, with its attendant blessings and joys. And as he preached, the woman thought less and less of the groceries, and more and more of the joys of salvation. Finally, she could stand it no longer. To everyone’s surprise, she cried out: "Groceries or NO groceries - PRAISE THE LORD!"   
(Randy Aly http://www.sermoncentral.com )

Scripture tells us that if we don’t praise the Lord, then even the very rocks will cry out! (Luke 19:40)  Not only do we praise God for all the ways that God has and continues to bless us, but God’s mercy and blessings are timeless and without end.  Each generation is told to teach the succeeding generation to praise God, and to “tell of God’s mighty acts.” (V. 4)  In other words, parents, as we raise up and disciple our children, we need to pass on our faith and trust in the Lord our God.  God’s blessings are not only for us, but for all generations and all people.

In fact, notice in the psalm the frequency of the word “all.”  As you read through the psalm, underline every instance of the word “all.”  David is telling us that our praiseworthy God’s love and mercy are available to all who call on His name.  We are all God’s children, regardless of gender or nationality or race or socio-economic standing.  All of us here, all of our families, all of our friends, all of our neighbors and all of our co-workers qualify for the love and acceptance of God, even though we have at one time or another turned our backs on God.  As Paul tells us in Romans 5:8(NIV), “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”  There is no greater joy or reason to praise God continually and daily, than for receiving the gift of eternal life through faith in God’s Son Jesus Christ.  And so everywhere and anywhere is a place and time to praise God.  Praise the Lord!

I know that baseball season is over, but many years ago, Orel Hershiser was pitching for the Los Angeles Dodgers. They had just won the World Series, and Orel had been named the Most Valuable Player.  One of the TV shows about the series showed him in the dugout just before the 9th inning started. He was leaning against the wall. And his lips were moving.

So when he was a guest on the Tonight Show, Johnny Carson asked him what he had been saying. "I wasn’t saying anything," Orel responded. "Well, then, tell us what you were doing." Finally Orel replied, "I was singing." Johnny said, "You were singing? I didn’t know you were a singer. Come on, let’s hear it!" And Orel said, "Nah. I don’t want to." And the audience clapped and said, "Yeah! Let’s hear it! Wooooh!"

Finally, Orel Hershiser started to sing: "Praise God from whom all blessings flow. (Sing with me.)  Praise Him all creatures here below. Praise him above Ye heavenly host. Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost! Amen!"

And Johnny Carson was speechless. The whole audience was dead silent. Then one person stood up and started clapping. And soon, the whole audience joined in applause.

This was Orel ’s way of saying, "Lord, the only reason I’m a Most Valuable Player is because you’re a Most Valuable God. You’re the one who gave me my ability. You’re the reason why my life has been so blessed. And I respect you. And I love you."   
(Marc Axelrod http://www.sermoncentral.com/)

And Orel Hershiser wasn’t ashamed to praise God on national television.  Paul tells us in Romans 1:16 (NIV), “I am not ashamed of the Gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes…”  Praise the Lord!

So do we praise the Lord every day?  Or are we ashamed to praise the Maker of the Universe?  As Christians, we are called to be disciples of Christ and to make disciples of Christ, and this is most easily accomplished by living out our faith with joy and gladness and praise.  In 2 Corinthians 5:20 Paul tells us that we are “Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.” (NIV)  Do we live as ambassadors of God, as those who praise God every day, thereby making God’s loving, compassionate message clear?  Since we are the only Bible that some will ever read, what message about God do others learn by watching us?

Well, Praise the Lord!, because God has given us the Holy Spirit to prompt us, to guide us in our praise.  Repeat after me verse 21 of our psalm: “My mouth will speak in praise of the Lord.  Let every creature praise his holy name for ever and ever.”  Perhaps this should be our mantra, then; perhaps this should be our way of life.   Every day.  For ever and ever.  Praise the Lord!  Amen.