Psalm 150:6 Let everything that hath breath praise the LORD. Praise ye the LORD.
Context: Psalm 150:2 Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his excellent greatness!
From the lexicon: Everything that hath breath=the whole of living souls. Praise=boast on.
Pulling it together: The Psalmist sounds the call for everyone to praise God. It was part of a call to worship in the temple. Verse 2 give us specific things to praise God for: His mighty works and his greatness.
Indeed, we are not called to empty praise. We have much to praise God for. If we list His works, there is no book that can contain all he has done. Yet it is so often the case that when troubles beset us, we forget. Let us not be like the unbelievers described in Romans 1:21 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Ought we not first thank God for what He has done before we shower our fire our requests to Him?
But Psalm 150:2 gives us a second reason to praise God: His excellent greatness. He is greater than anything we can imagine. He made heaven and earth. He loves with an all-encompassing love. He has power and might to solve our problems. Nothing and no one compares to Him.
This world tries to succeed without God. We are taught we can solve our problems by ourselves and when we fail psychoanalysts step in to explain why we have done so. The world misses the point. God alone has the power to redeem sinful men. He alone does His mighty works and is great beyond compare.
Lord, I pray for grace to never forget what You have done for me and Your excellent greatness.