Bible Chapter: Psalms 147 & 148

Because the Bible is practical, here are some statements to get you thinking.

1.  Write one or two key thoughts that come from today’s reading.
    It is a good thing to use the awesome gift of music that God has given to us to sing praises to God. We are told here that this is pleasant and praise is beautiful. There is so much beautiful music available that exalts the Lord and, it is a good thing for God’s people to use it as a tool to glorify and honor the Lord. God is worthy of this praise for many reasons. One of them is His limitless knowledge and power. We are told here that God counts the number of stars and calls them all by name. To the best of my knowledge, there is no supercomputer that people have created that can do that. We haven’t even discovered all of the stars that are out there. In God’s amazing power He even provides food for all of the wild animals in nature.
    All of creation is told to praise the Lord.  The Angels, the sun and the moon and the stars are all challenged with the importance of praising God. All of creation is to praise the Lord for it was all made at the Lord’s command. It is only the name of the Lord that is exalted above all else, so praise the Lord.

2.  What can I apply in my life from the reading?
    The repeated admonition to praise the Lord is quite overwhelming in these two Psalms. We are told it is a good thing to sing praises to God. All of creation is told to praise the Almighty God. What really jumps out to me in reading these Psalms is the importance of continuing to praise God. This is true when things are going the way we want them to and when they are not. There is an amazing benefit and blessing to the one who seriously praises God, for a divine byproduct of our praise is a strong sense of God’s presence. There is nothing better than experiencing the power and presence of the Lord.

3.  How can I help someone?
    If you are in the middle of a struggle, then be willing to make a sacrifice of praise to the Lord, even when you don’t feel like. The Lord inhabits the praises of His people and it is amazing to see what God will do as people praise Him. He is always worthy of our praise.