Praise Him!

© Karen Kyle Ericson, all rights reserved.

Sorry to be late!  I had too much fun drawing today...  Even my cats are pacing around me.  They are afraid they'll starve.  Anyway, this is another happy Psalm.   I fell in love with it and got inspired to draw.  The Bible will do that for sure.  In this Psalm, the word, "praise" is mentioned 14 times.  And, that means it's important. 

God is timeless.  He knew what we would become before we were born.  He knew who would choose to follow Him and who wouldn't.  Jesus came to be our sacrifice, so we could follow Him.  God still uses us today, to help each other out and share His great message.  Paul wrote a description of God's love: 

Ephesians 1:4-7
For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—  to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.
NIV

"to the praise of His glorious grace"  it's so lovely, and true. Grace means a gift we don't deserve, like having the bank erase your debt out of love.  And we know God is much more compassionate than a bank : ) even though we owe Him much more, because of our sin.  Here's an acronym- (God's Riches At Christ's Expense).  Praise changes my attitude, and helps me find hope.  As you read the Psalm, I'm sure you can understand why my imagination went crazy drawing!  It's an artist's dream.

Psalms 148

1 Hallelujah!

Praise God from heaven,

I am going to love seeing the angels praising Him.  It must be so beautiful- light, sparkles, angels...  Let all creation praise Him.  That includes us...

praise him from the mountaintops;

2 Praise him, all you his angels,

praise him, all you his warriors,

3 Praise him, sun and moon,

praise him, you morning stars;

4 Praise him, high heaven,

praise him, heavenly rain clouds;

5 Praise, oh let them praise the name of God —

he spoke the word, and there they were!

He put the moon and stars in place.  Created bunnies, cats, and people.
6 He set them in place

from all time to eternity;

He gave his orders,

and that's it!

7 Praise God from earth,

you sea dragons, you fathomless ocean deeps;

8 Fire and hail, snow and ice,

hurricanes obeying his orders;

9 Mountains and all hills,

apple orchards and cedar forests;

10 Wild beasts and herds of cattle,

snakes, and birds in flight;

All the world's leaders, all the races praise God!
11 Earth's kings and all races,

leaders and important people,

12 Robust men and women in their prime,

and yes, graybeards and little children.

His name is really the only one worth praising.  We fail, we get lost, we worry, and get sick.  Our Creator is worthy.  He doesn't make mistakes, He's not worried.  God never gets lost.  He's eternal.  His radiance must be so amazing!!!

13 Let them praise the name of God —

it's the only Name worth praising.

His radiance exceeds anything in earth and sky;

14 he's built a monument — his very own people!

Praise from all who love God!

Israel's children, intimate friends of God.

Hallelujah!

THE MESSAGE

Hmmm I think He wants us to praise Him...  We only have 2 more Psalms to read.  I think I'll read Proverbs next.  Don't know why, but I always do.  It's a fun book of wisdom.  The next two Psalms are about praise too.  When we finish this, we should be praise experts!  Have a great day or evening wherever you are.

Karen