The Biggest God – Psalm 148

A text – Psalm 148

¹ Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord from the heavens; praise him in the heights!
² Praise him, all his angels; praise him, all his host!

³ Praise him, sun and moon; praise him, all you shining stars!
⁴ Praise him, you highest heavens and you waters above the heavens!

⁵ Let them praise the name of the Lord, for he commanded and they were created.
⁶ He established them forever and ever; he fixed their bounds, which cannot be passed.^[a]

⁷ Praise the Lord from the earth, you sea monsters and all deeps,
⁸ fire and hail, snow and frost, stormy wind fulfilling his command!

⁹ Mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars!
¹⁰ Wild animals and all cattle, creeping things and flying birds!

¹¹ Kings of the earth and all peoples, princes and all rulers of the earth!
¹² Young men and women alike, old and young together!

¹³ Let them praise the name of the Lord, for his name alone is exalted; his glory is above earth and heaven.
¹⁴ He has raised up a horn for his people, praise for all his faithful, for the people of Israel who are close to him. Praise the Lord!

A reflection:

If in our Wednesday reflection this week we learned along with Peter that every kind of creature God makes is clean, and every kind of listener to the gospel can be blessed by the Holy Spirit, in this psalm we discover that every bit of nature is called to praise the Lord. Even snow and frost (yes, you upper Midwesterners) and even creeping things (yes, millipedes and spiders). And humans. Yes, they show up in verses 11 and 12.

Why is this psalm in here this week, I was wondering. But then it made sense. Like Peter, we all think small. Even about God. But God is all about everything. God created everything. And we are in service to this Creator God and God’s mission, not something small and manageable we thought up. God is all about everything. So why shouldn’t everything sing praise to God who created it all?

The faith we proclaim is about God, the Creator of the universe, not just some household God we put into a shoebox and take out of Sundays. The faith we say we hold is in Jesus, Son of God, Ruler of the universe. That biggest God of all is the God we talk to and sing to and pray to. And that God is the One who has assured us that Jesus, God’s son, embodies the deep love of the Creator for each one of us, from king, human, dolphin, lion, straight down to ant. So everybody, give praise to God, who loves you all.

A prayer:

Lord God, Thank you for loving us. Thank you for letting us be a part of praising you and working in your mission. Help us to remember our place in it and that you love us. Amen.