The Pinnacle Of Praise Series

A little girl was saying her prayers, and her mother suggested she

ask God to get uncle John a job. The little girl considered this a good

idea, and so she included this in her requests. The next evening when

it was time to say her prayers again the mother reminded her to pray

for uncle John to get a job. The little girl looked up at her mother in

surprise and asked, "What was wrong with the job I got uncle John

last night?"

There are adults who are convinced this is to be our attitude in prayer.

Just ask and believe and it is yours. Just name it and claim it.

Others are equally convinced that we need to be persistent in prayer,

and pray without ceasing, to make it clear to God it is not just a

whim, but a sincere heart-felt desire. There is debate on prayer, but

there is no debate on praise, for the Bible evidence is so

overwhelming that it convinces all that praise is to be perpetual,

persistent, and never ending. There may be a limit to how many

times you pray to God for something, but there is no limit as to how

many times you praise God for something. The Psalms are filled with

never ending praise.

Going through the Psalms is like climbing a mountain. You don't

just go straight up, for there are valleys to go down into on the way

up. There are cliffs to go around, and so the journey to the top takes

you up and down, and around, and covers a lot of ground. The

Psalms take us into the valleys of lament, discouragement, and

depression, and there are times when the Psalmist is singing the blues.

But in the end he gets to the top, and the book of Psalms ends with a

series of praise songs unmatched anywhere in the world. This is the

pinnacle of praise, and Psa. 150 is the grand finale.

James Stewart, the great Scottish preacher, wrote, "All the way

through the book of Psalms you feel that you are walking on a

smoldering volcano of praise, liable to burst out at any moment into a

great flame of gratitude to God." In the last 6 Psalms we are in the

heart of that erupting volcano of praise, and in this last Psalm all

heaven breaks loose as the angels of heaven join man in the earthly

sanctuary in a universal praise of God.

If you are superstitious about the number 13, you will be glad to

know the Bible is not. 13 times the word praise is used in this brief

Psalm. There are no unlucky numbers for God. Praise Him 13 times

and you will be blest. W. Graham Scroggie said, "Was there ever so much

said in 37 words as is said here?" That is all there is in the

Hebrew. There are just 37 words and 13 of them, over one third, are

the word praise. What does this Psalm tell us?

1. Who is to be praised?-the Lord.

2. Where is He to be praised?-in the sanctuary, and in the mighty

heavens.

3. Why is He to be praised?-for His acts of power, and His

surpassing greatness.

4. What are the ways He is to be praised?-by instruments and by

voice.

5. Who is to praise Him?-everything that has breath.

This is also the Hallelujah Chores of the Hebrew hymnal, and it

calls for total inclusiveness. Every voice and every instrument are to

join in the reverberation of jubilation that fills the universe with

praise to God. Praise the Lord is one word in Hebrew. It is

hallelujah, and this Psalm begins and ends with hallelujah. You might

feel inadequate to join such a choir and orchestra, but if you have

breath, you are invited. It does not say, if you have pitch, and tone,

and can read music, and can sing harmoniously. It says, if you have

breath, join in this universal praise. There are many groups we

would not qualify for, and we would not be so presumptuous to even

audition, but for praising God we all qualify.

Do you sing in the choir? Most of us would say no, and, thereby,

be guilty of speaking falsely again, for as children of God we are all in

the universal choir that offers unto God the sacrifice of praise. If you

are breathing you are in this choir. Why are the Psalms forever

urging us to praise? They urge the whole world to do so. They urge

the nations of the world to praise God. They urge the world of nature

to praise God. They urge the angels of heaven to praise God. They

urge God's people to be in perpetual praise. Why this obsession- this