Psalm 150:6
Let everything that has breath praise the LORD! Praise the LORD!
In highs and lows, mountain top elation and dark valleys of despair, it is a fitting capstone statement that the journey through the book of psalms ends with a call to all creation to praise the Lord. The qualifier is the most basic: if you’re breathing, praise the Lord. If we find ourselves lifting our voices in joy over good news, success at work, answered prayer, or even the potty training of a stubborn child. If we are lamenting the loss of a loved one, sorrowful over the weight of trials and temptations, hindered by sickness or disparring yet another sleepless night: praise the Lord. Whoever we are, wherever we are, in whatever state we find ourselves, praise the Lord.
This is our created mandate- rejected by our choice for sin. This is our new creation liberation- fueled by our salvation in Christ! We are not called to perform, as though the Lord would have us imagine ourselves into an ecstatic religious state. Rather, the call to praise is at the heart of the peace that Christ has granted us
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.
John 14:27
If we find ourselves with such a peace this morning, we will find close behind it an unction to obey this final verse sung from the Psalms. The cross of Christ whispers to the saints the good news of their salvation, wrought by the suffering of their King, and the victory he won.
