The Meaning Of Life

https://biblehub.com/nkjv/psalms/147.htm

As I read Psalm 147, there was no particular verse that stood out to me, yet the psalm in it’s entirety did. What the psalmist says strikes me as the description of a father. We know God is our Heavenly Father, but his actions and character are virtually the same as our earthly father. I understand that not everyone has a father in their life, there are too many broken homes, and I understand that not everyone has a good father…too many are abusive. But if you’ve had a wonderful father, such as I have, this psalm leads me to think of him.

We are the children of our Heavenly Father, and He loves us very much. I’ve heard some Christians say that God is only your father if you follow Him, but I wholeheartedly disagree. If if your earthly child strays and becomes an alcoholic or a drug addict, or even a bank robber or a murderer, you still love them, and God loves us unconditionally. God provides for everyone’s need, just as the psalmist says, “He gives food to the beasts and He hears the raven cry” (I’m paraphrasing of course), but God cares for everything. He provides rain because He know the grass won’t grow without it. He provides the clouds not only to provide beauty to the sky, but to help keep us cool on a blazing hot day. Our earthly father does the same, He works hard to provide us with food for nourishment, he provides us with shelter to keep us cool or warm. God heals the brokenhearted, our earthly father lifts our spirits when we’re sad. God binds our wounds, our father cares for us when we are ill or injured. God lifts up the humble, our earthly father boosts our morale when we feel inadequate. God rebukes the wicked, our earthly father teaches us to be kind. I could go on and on, but my point is that God is not an authoritarian figure who hands down rules, then froths at the bit waiting for us to do something wrong so He can punish us. He is just like our earthly father, loves us unconditionally, even when we are bad or when we stray, and wants absolutely nothing but the best for us. When we stray, He is disheartened, He is sad, He is remorseful, but He still loves us. In the future (I keep saying that because I’ve read the Bible before), we will talk about the prodigal son, and that tells a lot about the character of our God.

The lesson I got from Psalm 148 is to praise the Lord, irregardless. It doesn’t matter your situation, if you’re mad, if you’re sad, if you’re broke, if you’re sick, if you’re grieving, if your home is inadequate, if your car is a piece of junk, no matter how low life seems to be, praise the Lord! The Lord has a plan for all of us. His Will will be done. This is not to say we shouldn’t try to help ourselves, but we shouldn’t blame God when things aren’t going our way. Praise Him all the time.

Psalm 149 talks about praising the Lord, and the first thing that comes to mind is going to church. In church, we pray praises to God. We sing hymns to God. We study scripture to learn more about God. But you know, that certainly is not restricted to church; there is no law that prohibits you from doing that on a daily basis, at home, in the car, wherever you are (providing your employer allows it). No one can stop you from prayer, God knows I sent many prayers to Heaven when I was on the job as a firefighter. Most all of us have access to the internet, and we can find hymns and songs of praise on our phones and computers. Sing praises to God in your own living room! If you are unable to attend church, like me, watch church services on television. One hidden benefit was the COVID pandemic; many churches began broadcasting their services over streaming sites like YouTube, and yes, while many people choose to stay home from church and watch their computers instead, think of the number of people who have now been given the ability to attend church, in their pajamas, in their living room recliner, that otherwise would not have been exposed to church activities. The lesson, praise God daily, pray daily (at least once a day, but more is better), sing praises to Him, whether you are driving in your car listening to Christian radio, or whether you are simply sitting at home.

Psalm 150 urges us to praise God with song. And that is likely where the tradition of singing hymns in church came from; God loves music. God was especially fond of David because David was a wonderful harpist (is that a word?). In fact, David’s harp was such a blessing, it provided comfort to Saul when he was in a mental state of anxiety.

And again, we now have so many resources at hand. There is Christian radio that plays hymns and songs of praise; you can listen at home or you can listen in your car. There are 24 hour spiritual channels on satellite and cable TV that include songs of praise. There are music videos on sites like YouTube where you can listen to songs of praise on your computer or phone. I’ve downloaded many songs of praise off of YouTube and have them stored as a playlist on my computer; I can start playing them in Windows Media Player and they play one after the other. The benefit of that is that I can choose my favorites, those that mean the most to me. And I can listen on my computer speakers, or I can listen via bluetooth headphones while I’m drawing (my hobby) or cooking or cleaning (not my hobby). There is no excuse not to; and to sum up the last four psalms, there is no reason that we can’t praise God, verbally, through prayer, or in music no matter where we are or what we’re doing.

Praise God all the time!

And here is another one of my favorites. Happy Sabbath and have a blessed day.