Hallel is the Hebrew word for ‘praise’ —הלל. It is a Jewish prayer, recited verbatim from Psalms 113-118. Observant Jews on Jewish holidays still do this today. According to Isaiah Wohlgemuth in his Guide To Jewish Prayer, the five stage breakdown for Jews is: 1. The Exodus from Egypt; 2. The Splitting of the Red Sea; 3. The Giving of the Torah; 4. The Revival of the dead; 5. The Difficulties preceding the Messianic Age. The Shulhan Arukh (the preeminent code of Jewish law) states that Hallel should be said while standing (Orah Hayyim 422). The Mishnah Brurah (a commentary on the Shulhan Arukh) explains why: “In Hallel we testify to the glorious miracles that God performed.” Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik–a preeminent 20th century Orthodox thinker–theorized that Hallel is another Amidah [the standing prayer that is central to Jewish liturgy], which explains why Jews must stand. It is not only then a beautiful piece of poetry, but seen as reverenced to the total work of God with the Jewish people. In other words, Hallel deals with all of Jewish history from the birth of the nation to the establishment of the Messianic Era. In Hallel they express their joy at past miracles and their faith in future miracles. This is taught and acted upon with severe focus. I am a Gentile, born again and therefore adopted into the family. Due to this positional change and the fact I am living in a state of grace and not law; my compulsion should not be to follow the letter of the law. Instead my desire should be to follow the meaning of it. The meaning of it will always constitute the heart of God and that should be my greatest desire (Matthew 22.37). Therefore it should be expressed by me with just as sincere of a focus.
Having said that, we are not diving into the Hallel, but illustrating it’s importance as we step into what is known as ‘The Final Hallel‘ which is Psalm 145—150. A lot of attention was given to this— It’s designed with a majestic acrostic of the 22 letter Hebrew alphabet. The Spirit reveals to us in this inspired piece of majesty just how awesome God really is. It is impossible for us to adequately express who God is, but it is possible for us to express who He is to us. David, the man after God’s own heart wrote Psalm 145, our text for the next few posts. In a quick outline David illustrates for us in a real-time praise, how to praise the Infinite One.
We first see David’s Commitment To Praise The Lord (1-2); Next, God’s Awesome Greatness (3-7); Then, God’s Great Grace (8-13); After, God’s Unfailing Faithfulness (14-16); Next, God’s Unblemished Righteousness (17-20); Finally, His Recommitment and Exhortation to Praise The Lord (21).
This is King David’s praise. It is not private, it is not hidden, on purpose. He lives it out for all of us here. I am so thankful for the preservation of God’s Word to bring this beautiful Psalm to life for me. In it we find a prescription for praising the LORD.
“1 I will extol thee, my God, O king; and I will bless thy name for ever and ever. 2 Every day will I bless thee; and I will praise thy name for ever and ever. 3 Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable. 4 One generation shall praise thy works to another, and shall declare thy mighty acts. 5 I will speak of the glorious honour of thy majesty, and of thy wondrous works. 6 And men shall speak of the might of thy terrible acts: and I will declare thy greatness. 7 They shall abundantly utter the memory of thy great goodness, and shall sing of thy righteousness. 8 The Lord is gracious, and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy. 9 The Lord is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works. 10 All thy works shall praise thee, O Lord; and thy saints shall bless thee. 11 They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom, and talk of thy power; 12 To make known to the sons of men his mighty acts, and the glorious majesty of his kingdom. 13 Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and thy dominion endureth throughout all generations. 14 The Lord upholdeth all that fall, and raiseth up all those that be bowed down. 15 The eyes of all wait upon thee; and thou givest them their meat in due season. 16 Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing. 17 The Lord is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works. 18 The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth. 19 He will fulfil the desire of them that fear him: he also will hear their cry, and will save them. 20 The Lord preserveth all them that love him: but all the wicked will he destroy. 21 My mouth shall speak the praise of the Lord: and let all flesh bless his holy name for ever and ever.”
In this post we will bring our focus on only one principle gained from this Psalm: Praise should be POWERFUL!
In verse 1 David said ‘extol,’ which means to praise enthusiastically. Ho-hum praise is not praise at all! We should ask ourselves when we do not praise powerfully, ‘What am I ashamed of?’ Get enthusiastic! Additionally in verse 6 the word ‘terrible’ is used. An archaic word used today as the word ‘awesome.’ But we have lost the importance of the word awesome quite a lot. The song ‘our God is an awesome God’ is a direct quote from the Bible. But again, as with many words in the New Testament the prevailing spirit of our age twists and nullifies good words. Awesome as an English word isn’t what it used to be. Awesome in this sense means ‘for one to stand in awe,’ ‘To be shaken and shut up.’ Interesting to note that the word awesome was used as awesome in the 1600’s and 1700’s. It was common then, so why does it say terrible? Because worshipping the Lord, seeing Him for who He is, should shake us to the core. Just as we see throughout the Old and New Testament, each time a person saw God for who He really is, they dropped to their knees. It wasn’t a Jeremy Camp sing-a-long. No, more like lying on your face in humility. Today there is a lack of respect for all things God in general. We believers have escalated that. Not simply the ‘no running in church policy,’ but more towards the disrespect for Him personally. We are to respect and reverently fear the Lord.
Therefore true praise should be Earth shattering! How powerful is your praise? Is it enough to drop you to your knees emotionally? Physically? It must be more than a tear in the eye and more than simply a bowed head.
‘Oh Awesome God Almighty to be praised… break us from our lethargy and liturgy by stirring our hearts as you did David’s. Help us to cut loose in praise to you at the level and fierceness you deserve. For you deserve our whole heart!’
One thought on “A Prescription For Praise Part 1”
We have made “praise” a “praise team” instead of an attitude toward God. We really have let things slip in our worship because we sing “praise songs” that has become the “if I feel like it” spirit of the congregation. Like letting others sing for us. More small groups or solos than the congregation ever acknowledging a “terrible” God. Which describes our sin of “missing the mark.”
I look forward to your next part.