Tuesday, July 12, 2011

His Name (Alone) is Excellent

I like how the psalmist strains to find words to proclaim the praise of the Lord in Ps. 148.7-13. He calls for anything and everything that he can think of to praise the name of the Lord. Dragons, deeps, fire, hail, snow, vapour, stormy wind (fulfilling his word), mountains, hills, trees, cattle, birds, creeping things, kings, princes, judges, old, young. Listen all you people/things/events, "praise the name of the Lord, for his name alone is excellent."

There is a lot of theology in that list. Notice how the psalmist puts in the aside comment, "stormy wind—oh yeah, that stormy wind that knocks over stuff seemingly willy-nilly? That wind fulfills his word." Fire? "Yep, that too." Hail? "Yep." Creepy crawlers? They do also. And in some sense creepy crawlers and birds and cattle can praise the name of the Lord (I'm thinking its because he is their creator).

I think what the psalmist is getting at is that everything—yes, everything—can, should (and at least when it comes to nature, does)—praise the name of the Lord.

How about you? Do you praise the name of the Lord?

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