Shouts of Joy

Everyone who is reading this already knows how much music means to me. It should be no surprise then, that Psalms is one of my favorite books of the Bible. One of the reasons I like it is because there are so many different feelings that are expressed through song in the book. There's joy, repentance, rejoicing, explanation and lamenting. But I really love the ones that express joy and praise toward God. The writers loved God so much and were able to put it down on paper for people to read for the rest of eternity.

I'm not the greatest at writing my own material, so I usually rely on others. A while ago, I took the words from Psalm 148 and put it to music. Of course, it had to be tweaked just slightly, but it's incredible how well the words of David and the Psalmists stand up to today's standards. I'm positive that you couldn't tell much difference between David's lyrics and the lyrics of famous singer/song writer Chris Tomlin. In fact, take a look at modern praise songs and many of the lyrics will draw upon Psalms. It's just another testament to how infinitely amazing God is, that lyrics he inspired thousands of years ago are useful in writing songs of worship today.

I love Psalm 148 because it's a total explosion of praise to God. The psalmist tells the heavens and stars to praise the Lord...the trees and beasts of the Earth to praise God. Why? Because he created them all! And not only that, but verse 14 says that the Lord has exalted His people. That means us. I couldn't think of a better reason to praise the Lord.

I'll put a link to the entire psalm here in case you don't have a Bible handy to look it up. Read it over and let me know what stands out to you. I'd love to hear some input.

Psalm 148.