1Clap your hands, all you peoples;
shout to God with loud songs of joy.
2For the Lord, the Most High, is awesome,
a great king over all the earth.
3He subdued peoples under us,
and nations under our feet.
4He chose our heritage for us,
the pride of Jacob whom he loves.
Selah
5God has gone up with a shout,
the Lord with the sound of a trumpet.
6Sing praises to God, sing praises;
sing praises to our King, sing praises.
7For God is the king of all the earth;
sing praises with a psalm.*
8God is king over the nations;
God sits on his holy throne.
9The princes of the peoples gather
as the people of the God of Abraham.
For the shields of the earth belong to God;
he is highly exalted.
The psalmist isn’t shy about telling us what to do. In fact, it sounds like the psalmist is leading a spiritual aerobics class. For our spiritual fitness, the writer reminds us, we are to actively praise God, but so often we forget. How often we neglect to even notice God’s gracious actions.
The psalmist exults in recounting some of the things God has done for the people of Israel. We can exult as well. God’s blessings to us are so numerous that we couldn’t list them all if we tried. If we attempted to create such lists, however, our lists would certainly have some common components. Many of us would put the loving acts of Jesus at the top. We also might include our families and friends, our access to education and health care, and our right to freely worship.
Many other blessings would be specific to our individual lists, because God knows each of us and blesses us uniquely, with a specificity that is often breath-taking. That is greatness beyond our comprehension. Clap! Shout! Sing! Praise!
Prayer:
Glorious God,
We can’t even comprehend your full greatness, but we pause to praise you. We stop in the midst of the day you have given us to praise your divine name and majesty. We give thanks for the many ways in which you bless us, and we acknowledge that we often fail to recognize your generosity all around us. Great is your name!
Amen.
Valerie Loner
