FROM HIGHEST HEAVEN TO UNDER WORLD - like water cascading off high rocks, one parallelism after another describes the kinds of creation from whom praise is appropriate:

Heavens - v. 1

     Hosts - v. 2

          Solar system - v. 3

               Atmosphere - v. 4

                    Created things-in the ocean and on earth - vv. 5-7

                         Weather - v. 8

                                Mountains and flora - v. 9

                                        Animals-mammals, reptiles, birds - v. 10

                                                 Humans-kings, youth, aged, children - v. 11-12

BEHIND THE TEXT - According to scholars, what lies behind many of these selected sections of creation are-outside of Israel and monotheism-what would have been considered divine powers. The psalmist-theologian-singer lumps all creation together under the great and sovereign Yahweh, Lord God.

 

Praise is a refrain in this psalm. The psalmist calls all creation-animate and inanimate-to join a universal chorus of thanksgiving. Even sea creatures, stormy winds and small creatures are invited to sing along. The Psalms reveal that praise is a natural response to God’s Word. Think of concrete ways by which you might praise God. Could you set aside a small table in a quiet room of your house where you place symbols of God’s presence? How about planting your garden as an act of worship? What creative offering of praise can you make? [1]

This would be a great psalm to explore the Praise of God with your congregation. Keep the psalm intact with it’s literary form-a song-poem, a hymnic piece that calls creation to the altar of praise.

Have fun with the psalm - have it introduced antiphonally or perhaps you might consider using a choral reading (several persons who break in and out at unexpected places in the poem’s lines; sometimes alone, at other times simultaneously.)

Get behind the poet’s words to the rhetorical function (what the poem originally was designed to do-what emotions or thoughts it brought to mind) and to the rhetorical "device" (how the genre triggered such responses).

Suggest new ways or untried ways that the listeners might consider offering God-Creator praise.

Invite the singing of hymns that provide a musical way for the congregation to offer God praise. Do you have some unusual instruments that you could introduce to the worship service on this Sunday?

Enclose-as does the psalm itself-from the beginning to the of the worship service, a hearty and thoughtful, "Praise the Lord!"

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[1] Spiritual Formation Bible (Zondervan, 1999), page 818.