PRAISE THE LORD!

It's Monday morning. Some wake up on Monday mornings and do not look forward to going to work, going to school, packing lunches and getting children off to school or just the routines Monday mornings bring. By the end of the day we are usually back into the routine and able to do Tuesday much better.

Over the weekend I read Psalm 150. It has six verses. Verse 1 speaks to where we are to praise the Lord. We are to praise Him in His sanctuary (church) and praise Him in His mighty firmament or heaven (everywhere). Verse 2 speaks to what we are to praise Him for. We are to praise Him for His mighty acts according to His excellent greatness! Verses 3-6 speak to the form or ways we are to praise Him. We are to praise Him with the trumpet, lute, harp, timbrel, stringed instruments, flutes, cymbals -clashing cymbals. It even says we are to praise Him with dancing. Wow! Think about our worship services and lives in general as we worship and praise the Lord. I don't want to get into the various theological arguments about what is or is not appropriate in a worship service. The point is, and I don't know how we can get around this, praise is to be happy and joyful and it is to be done with everything we have to use to glorify God.

Since we struggle with the Monday morning blahs sometimes, I thought this was a very appropriate Psalm to write about. Instead of waking up struggling with the routine of the day we should focus our attention on Him. C.S. Lewis said, "The moment you wake up each morning, all your wishes and hopes for the day rush at you like wild animals. And the first job each morning consists in shoving it all back; in listening to that other voice, taking that other point of view, letting that other, larger, stronger, quieter life come flowing in."

In other words let us wake up to praising Him. Praise Him for His excellent greatness and mighty deeds. Be specific. As far as the music, think of a favorite hymn or song to praise the Lord. We may find Monday mornings or any morning is more welcomed.

There are two times to praise the Lord, when you feel like and when you don't. "Let everything that has breath praise the LORD!


P.S. I will not be posting until Oct. 30, 2009. My husband and I will be away on a fund raising/family trip. May the Lord continue His blessings on you.