Praise To The God Of All Creation

Psalm 148

Today’s Psalm is one of praise to the God of creation, the God of the whole universe.  It can be divided into two short parts, each one where a part of creation is called upon to sing its praises to God.

The first section is verses 1 - 6, which calls upon the heavens and the whole of outer space to praise God.  The sun, which gives its light during the day, the moon reflecting light to earth during the night.  All the countless millions of stars, all of the many galaxies hundreds of light years away, everything in the heavens, each is called upon to praise God (vs. 1, 3 - 4).  I have heard some of the recordings that NASA has made of sounds from outer space, and I imagine that these sounds that have been recorded is exactly what this psalmist has said, that it is the heavens giving praise to God.

Verse 2 calls upon all of the angels in heaven to sing their praises to God.  The Scriptures do not give a number as to how many angels there are.  Doubtless there is a vast number, many millions.  The word “hosts” here refers to a very large number, an army of angels.  The angels in heaven are before the throne of God, day and night, singing praises to Him, for He is worthy, as we see in the Book of Revelation (Revelation 5:11-14, 7:11-12).

Why do the angels and all of heavenly creation praise the Lord?  We see an answer in verses 5 - 6.  God spoke the word and all of the heavens were created.  Look at the beauty of outer space.  Living in a heavily urban area, I don’t get to see the beauty of the night sky too often, but I have seen pictures of the Milky Way.  Just look at the beauty of the rings of Saturn, or of the Horsehead and the Crab Nebula.  God created them, and He is worthy of praise!

The second section of this Psalm of praise is found in verses 7 - 14.  Here the psalmist calls upon all of creation here on earth, both living and inanimate creation to praise God.  Verses 7 and 10 speak of animals and living creatures, both in the ocean, on land, and in the air, giving praise to God.  Sometimes the birds singing early in the morning will wake me up.  In the past I used to get irritated if they started chirping at 2 or 3 am.  Now I just look at it as the birds singing praise to their Creator.

In verses 8 and 9 our psalmist calls upon inanimate creation to sing forth its praises to God as well.  God is sovereign over all of the weather.  Though some people don’t enjoy watching storms, with lightning and thunder, my son and I do.  I can imagine the giant storm clouds with the lightning, thunder, and wind giving praise to God in their own way.  He speaks, and the storms obey His will, as we see many times throughout both the Old and New Testaments.

The mountains, trees, and all plant life sing praises to God, as well, in their own way.  Each time a flower opens its petals and shows its beauty and scent to the world, it is a song of thanksgiving to the Creator God.  When a tree puts forth its leaves in the spring, or changes color in the fall, that is praise to God as well.

Verses 11 and 12 bring us to mankind, and their need to praise their Creator.  Verse 11 specifies the rulers of the nations on earth, and their need to give homage and praise to Him.  The only way to have a good and peaceful rule anywhere on earth is when its rulers acknowledge God and worship Him.  All of us - young, old, men, and women are to sing forth our praises to God.

Why should all of creation praise the Lord?  Verses 13 and 14 answer that for us.  His Name alone is excellent.  At His Name everything, all of creation, will bow the knee and confess that Jesus is Lord (Philippians 2:9-11).  The Creator is greater than the creation, and as we behold the wonder of everything spoken of in this psalm, we can only agree that He is worthy of all praise and glory.  As Jesus said, if we don’t sing our praises to God, the very rocks will do so (Luke 19:37-40).  Why don’t we?  Let us sing forth His praise!