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
Dear heavenly Father, this Psalm convicts me by the utter diversity that you commend, even command, in your worship. I need a much bigger heart for the purposes of your praise. I need the gospel to expand my palate, multiply my taste buds, and increase my capacity to enjoy the rich variety of worship offered by your pan-national beloved people.
My tendency is to treat this psalm, like many parts of your Word, as though it were a buffet line from which I pick and choose the items that I personally enjoy. What’s worse, I find ways to marginalize or eliminate expressions that don’t fit within my spectrum of beauty.
This is a season in which I enjoy harps and lyres, strings and flutes; but trumpets and tambourines, clashing and resounding cymbals, just don’t fit within my sonic bandwidth of acceptability. Father, all of this I confess as sin and brokenness. I am a small-hearted man who needs more freedom by your grace. I matter, but I’m not the point.
Oh, how I long for the Day when the work of Jesus will be complete in my heart—the Day when I’ll no longer be the measure of anything and I will no longer offer a measured response to your glory and grace. I long for the Day when I will find utter joy in celebrating your surpassing greatness with the whole family of God, with all of restored creation, with every breath, instrument, sound, molecule, and nanoparticle.
Your greatest praiseworthy act was when you sent, gave, and raised Jesus for us—for me. May only the riches and reach of the gospel determine the elements and dynamics of my worship. So very Amen I pray, in Jesus’ magnificent and merciful name.