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Psalm ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY

 Psalms [Praying our praise] 

Psalm 150_ 

 
All prayer finally, in one way or another, becomes praise. 
No matter how much we suffer, no matter our doubts – everything finds its way into praise, the final consummating prayer. This is not to say that other prayers are inferior to praise, only that all prayer pursued far enough becomes praise... 

 

[Group starter activity] Write or draw the things that you are thankful for. Have fun! Include the everyday joys of life as well as the big answers to prayer. 

 

Psalm 150 is deliberately placed as the concluding prayer of the church’s book of prayers (as well as the last track on our ‘mixtape’). 

[Read Psalm 150] 

 

How many times is the word praise used in the Psalm? 

 

What does that suggest about the psalmist’s mood when this Psalm was written? 

 

When have you felt compelled to express your praise to God in a similar way? 

 

 

Verse 1 tells us where the Lord is to be praise. 
What is the meaning of “in His sanctuary” and “in His mighty heavens”? 
 

 

Verse 2 tells us why God is to be praised. 
What reasons does the psalmist give? 
 

 
What reasons, of your own, can you add? 

Verses 3-5 tell us how to praise the Lord. 
As you read these verses, what kind of scene do you imagine? 
 

 

How does this kind of worship compare with your own? 

 

 

Verse 6 tells us who should praise the Lord. 
Do you think that “everything that has breath” is meant literally? 
Explain. 

 

 

In Hebrew, the first and last word of this Psalm/Prayer is hallelujah (“praise the Lord”).  
To what extent is your life bracketed by this word? 

 

 

There are no short-cuts to praise. If we maintain a sensitivity to all the Psalms preceding this one, we will not be insensitive to all of the tears and doubts and pain that are summed up into praise. 
What difficult circumstances, in your life, have found their way into praise? 

 
 

 

African theologian, Augustine, claimed that a “Christian should be a hallelujah from head to foot”. Are you? Do you want to be? 
What needs to be done to get you there? 

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