The Great Hallal: Creation's Call to Praise

One of my heroes, St. Francis, at the Fort Worth Botanic Garden

OT: Psalms 107-150 (Book 5)
NT: Luke 19:28-40

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Psalm 148:1-6 — Praise the LORD! Praise the LORD from the heavens; praise him in the heights! Praise him, all his angels; praise him, all his host! Praise him, sun and moon; praise him, all you shining stars! Praise him, you highest heavens, and you waters above the heavens! Let them praise the name of the LORD, for he commanded and they were created. He established them forever and ever; he fixed their bounds, which cannot be passed.

Psalm 148 is often called "The Great Hallal" because the Hebrew word for praise, hallal, occurs 12 times in its 14 verses. No other psalm is like it, save for the last one, psalm 150. The psalm itself is a marvel to me every time I read it. In its blessed lines, an unknown author calls upon all of God's creation to praise the Almighty. The poet starts by calling on the heavens and then moves to the things of earth — the animals and fish, the weather and the terrain, and then men of all ages and genders. Nothing that exists is excluded from the call to praise the Lord. It was psalms like this one that gave great inspiration to St. Francis of Assisi, who penned his famous hymn over 700 years ago, "All Creatures of Our God and King."

It boggles the rational mind that anything inanimate could praise the Lord. after all, we can't prove it with science or math. But Scripture is clear on this point: even inanimate objects that we think of as being without person can praise the Lord. How is this possible? It's a mystery, for sure! Remember when Jesus was coming into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday? The Pharisees wanted Him to make his followers stop praising Him. But Jesus replied, "I tell you, if these (people) become silent, the stones will cry out!" You see, all of creation exists to glorify God. Even rocks and trees, the beast of the seas, from flower to fawn, until eternity's dawn.

Be God's.