Psalm 146 tells us we should praise the Lord in everything we do, as long as we live, for the Lord is the one we can trust.

At my church, Cumberland Presbyterian Church, we begin our services with praise songs. Why is that? It is an integral part of worship, isn’t it? Part of our worship of God is to praise God. Worship and praise of God go together. Israel knew that, that is why we have the Book of Psalms in the Bible. 150 different psalms. They were used as part of the worship services for the Israelites. And you can find all sorts of things in the Psalms. There are psalms of assurance; 121 comes to mind psalms of trust, the 23rd, psalms of anger and lament, 137, psalms of prayer, psalms of desperation, psalms of wisdom. But there are so many psalms of praise, and those are sprinkled through the Book, but it ends with psalms of praise. Psalms 145 – 150 are all psalms of praise, and this psalm is one of those.

The rest of this psalm goes into why we should praise the Lord. He is God, not man or mortal or fallible or weak or temporary. God, our Lord, will not let us down. And then the Psalm goes on with some of the specifics that God does, and notices the emphasis is on justice and welfare, not on the haves, but on the have nots. God deserves praise because he is a God of help, a God of compassion, who takes care of the downtrodden, the hungry, those in prison of whatever kind, maybe a prison of addiction, of despair. God deserves praise, because he is a God of help, a God of compassion, who takes care of the downtrodden, the hungry, those in prison of whatever kind, maybe a prison of addiction, of despair. The psalmist concentrates on these characteristics: bringing justice, help and care and nurture and lifting up, concern for others, righteousness. These are the things which define God and deserve our praise. And if these are God’s values and deserve our praise, they should be our values.

It could be just one thing that you do that will make a difference. Just one more dollar toward helping those in disasters, one more can for FACES, one more hour of working for Habitat for Humanity, one more check in the offering, that one thing can make all the difference. That is how you can praise the Lord, not only right here, right now but in your lives as you do your work today. You can praise the Lord in what you do. Praise the Lord.

REV. DALE BROWN is the pastor of Cumberland and Guinea Presbyterian Churches. His email address is dalembesq@aol.com.