Psalm 150 is one of my favorite passages in the Bible. The entire passage directs us to praise God. Though the Psalm is relatively short it contains many details as to where and how to worship God, as well as what to worship God with. But one thing that has stuck out to me in studying this passage is WHY God is to be worshipped. Verse 2 tells us to “praise Him according to His excellent greatness.” Did you catch that? We are to worship Him based upon how great He is! When we think of God’s greatness where do we even begin? He is perfectly holy with no sin. He is all-powerful, all-knowing, and fulfills His promises. He is just and will execute justice on those who have taken advantage of others. He is loving with a love that loved the world while it was still in rebellion against Him. God is full of grace, full of wisdom, full of mercy. He created all things by speaking them into existence. And this does not even begin to scratch the surface of just how truly great He is! But it doesn’t even stop there! The Bible then goes on to qualify God’s greatness by telling us that it is “excellent.” This means that not only is God great, but that His greatness is far superior to any other greatness we will ever come in contact with. So if we are to worship Him according to His excellent greatness, what does this mean?
To make this clearer, sometimes it is easier to clarify by taking the question from the negative aspect–meaning what should it not be. I would argue that at times instead of praising God according to His excellent greatness, we praise Him according to other factors. We praise Him based upon our personal preferences. For instance, there are times when a church gathers corporately to worship and a song is played in order to create an opportunity for everyone to sing to God. However, because of personal preferences some will opt out. Not because the song is unbiblical (which some hymns and praise songs are), but because the beat is wrong, the instruments are wrong, it is played differently than what you are used to. In fact, I have known people to skip corporate singing altogether because of their personal preferences. Now, I am not pointing a finger and accusing, because I have my own personal preferences that I struggle against. However, what does any of that have to do with praising God according to His excellent greatness? Sometimes we do not praise God because we have had a difficult week and it seems as if everything is falling apart in my life. What does that have to do with praising God according to His excellent greatness? Sometimes we are treated poorly by others and we sulk in our misery or we stew in our anger over what has happened. Remember, David was treated unjustly many times by others and yet he never stopped praising God according to His excellent greatness. I would say too many times we are guilty of hijacking praise that is meant only for God, instead withholding it because we have made it conditional based upon us. Let us not praise God conditionally, but repent and have a renewed sense of God’s awesomeness. Let us praise Him always for His excellent greatness!
VC Devotionals 