Week 3: All Creatures of Our God and King

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Praise the Lord!
Praise God in his sanctuary;

praise him in his mighty heavens!

Praise him for his mighty deeds;

praise him according to his excellent greatness!

Praise him with trumpet sound;

praise him with lute and harp!

Praise him with tambourine and dance;

praise him with strings and pipe!

Praise him with sounding cymbals;

praise him with loud clashing cymbals!

Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!

Praise the Lord!

Psalm 150 (ESV)

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What do you think of when you hear the word “praise”? Or “worship”? Or more specifically, even, what do you think of when you imagine musical worship to the Lord? Most likely, you imagine a congregation praising God in church together. You imagine the room, the lights, the microphones, the worship leader in front, and even the strong vibrato of the lady sitting behind you. And indeed, this is a beautiful display of worship! In fact, the corporate gathering of the saints joined in musical worship is one of a number of things directly commanded in Scripture:

Addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 5:19-20 (ESV)

I am sure you join with me in craving and longing for this corporate worship! Even as I write this, I am in the middle of a 10-day quarantine period, isolated from both earthly and heavenly families, and I am acutely longing for the day when I can join voices with my brothers and sisters once again. I know thousands of the children of God also join me in this waiting, unable to see their beloved brothers and sisters bodily united. In the meantime, what then? Is worship at a pause? Are the floodgates of praise to be closed?

Definitely, not! The beautiful thing about worship is that it is an activity not limited by time and space. In fact, Jesus Himself said that we are to worship God in spirit and in truth, not limited by a physical location (John 4). Even more beautifully, we as humans are not alone in singing praise! As the Psalmist declares, let everything that has breath praise the Lord! No pandemic, and no global disaster, can silence the song of creation to its Creator. In fact, the very first chronological mention of music in the Bible predates even the creation of man:

“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?

Tell me, if you have understanding.

Who determined its measurements—surely you know!

 Or who stretched the line upon it?

On what were its bases sunk,

or who laid its cornerstone,

when the morning stars sang together

and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

Job 38:4-7 (ESV)

As God was challenging Job’s finitude, He revealed one thing – that both creation itself and the angels made joyful music to accompany the creation of the universe! And when we praise our Creator and Father today, we are joining in this song. We are united with the stars and angels themselves in our worship. Can you imagine anything more beautiful?

So let us not be discouraged when we feel like our songs are muted by life. Our praise is so much greater than our circumstances, and our music is so much greater than ourselves. Let us wholeheartedly echo the song of creation!