Praise the LORD!

Praise the LORD!
Praise the LORD from the heavens!
Praise him from the skies!
Praise him, all his angels!
Praise him, all the armies of heaven!
Praise him, sun and moon
Praise him, all you twinkling stars!
Praise him, skies above!
Praise him, vapors high above the clouds!
Let every created thing give praise to the LORD,
for he issued his command, and they came into being.
He set them in place forever and ever.
His decree will never be revoked.

Praise the LORD from the earth,
you creatures of the oceans depths,
fire and hail, snow and clouds,
wind and weather that obey him,
mountains and all hills,
fruit trees and all cedars,
wild animals and all livestock,
small scurrying animals and birds,
kings of the earth and all people,
rulers and judges of the earth,
young men and young women,
old men and children.

Let them all praise the name of the LORD.
For his name is very great;
his glory towers over the earth and heaven!
He has made his people strong,
honouring his faithful ones -
the people of Israel who are close to him.

Praise the LORD!
Psalm 148 NLT

This morning as I sat down to spend some time with God, I didn't feel like praising Him. My thoughts were something like, 'here we are again, waiting, waiting, waiting. This is so exhausting. We want to get on with our lives and move past this.'

As I start to read the Psalms, one verse stood out to me,

He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds [curing their pains and their sorrows].
Psalm 147:3 AMP

Okay, yes I know He heals the brokenhearted, but it seems to me that often that healing, the curing of our sorrows, is a long term 'project'.  And we need to patient with God and patient with ourselves, allowing ourselves the time we need to process well. 

In my experience, coming to a place where we can praise God in the processing time can be challenge, but essential. Praising God helps to give us perspective, His perspective.

O Come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker [in reverent praise and supplication]. For He is our God and we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand. Psalm 95:6-7a AMP

God took me to that place this morning as I read Psalm 148, reminding me that everything He created is called to praise Him. He bought to mind a worship song from Vineyard Music UK - The Lord is Gracious and Compassionate (1998). As I played that song and made a decision to sing the words, my thoughts moved from our circumstances to God and His never failing love and grace for us. Praise the Lord.

Question for today, are you finding it difficult to praise the Lord today? If yes, why not try meditating on Psalm 148, asking God to bring you to a place where you can open-heartedly praise Him and let Him minister to you, giving you more of His perspective. 

Blessed (affectionately and gratefully praised) be the Lord, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting! And let all the people say, Amen! Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!)

Psalm 104:48 AMP