[image: Monster, 2013, JA Van Devender]
Psalm 148:7–14 (NASB95)
7 Praise the Lord from the earth, Sea monsters and all deeps; 8 Fire and hail, snow and clouds; Stormy wind, fulfilling His word;
9 Mountains and all hills; Fruit trees and all cedars; 10 Beasts and all cattle; Creeping things and winged fowl;
11 Kings of the earth and all peoples; Princes and all judges of the earth; 12 Both young men and virgins; Old men and children.
13 Let them praise the name of the Lord, For His name alone is exalted; His glory is above earth and heaven. 14 And He has lifted up a horn for His people, Praise for all His godly ones; Even for the sons of Israel, a people near to Him. Praise the Lord!
One of my very most favorite (speaking as a kid) hymns is "Hallelujah, Praise Jehovah." ( An amateur Choir sings it HERE) True to the original King James /NASB version it joyfully proclaims "...O praise Jehovah, all you seas, you monsters all, Fire and hail and snow and vapors, stormy winds that hear His call....." It's one of those glad occasions when the Scriptures, lyrical casting and melody come together to express a whole person act of worship in song.
We have no real idea of how the Psalms were originally sung in ancient temple worship. We know they had a "professional" Levitical choir, that instruments were used and that many of the Psalms were set to well known "melodies." But if you have ever listened to the earliest music that we have any confidence whatsoever of knowing (classical Greek forms), you know just how far removed those sounds, rythms and lyrics were from what our modern ears recognize.
But one thing is for certain, at least in my mind, Psalm 148 must have been a toe-tapping thumper in its day just as it is now.
There is something in the human soul that screams for release in joyful, exuberant praise. I think its built into our created DNA and shows up, across the board, in musical expression.
Certainly not every tribe and race demonstrate this in praise to the One True God. This internal compulsion has been perverted just like every thing else God originally created "good." But, whether it is aboriginal, half-naked savages dancing ecstatically around a blazing fire, or Handel's Hallelujah Chorus, Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture or (to close the circle with the aborigines) a modern "mosh pit", still the impulse will not be denied. Man must "praise" even if it's blasphemy.
I am not certain how the evolutionists have handled this particularly human distinctive. They probably root it in the same kind of 'dance' that a honey-bee does when a scout acts out its travels to the circled workers who will retrace her steps and harvest the pollen. Not very convincing in my mind if such is the case. Music, especially joyful, ecstatic music, lifts us out of ourselves or it doesn't celebrate much at all.
During that travesty of human progress called the French Revolution, a serious attempt was made to substitute the worship of humanity for worship of the supernatural. A "temple" was set up, 'hymns" were written, "priests" were commissioned and they seriously set about to put Man in God's place. To quote an old English saying, "it just didn't satisfy." Man, singing about himself, knows right away that there is nothing that he can really celebrate. Imagine the ludicrous scene of people singing joyously about the magnificense of man as the guillotine's blade comes whoosing down. The poet may have said that the "proper study of mankind is Man" but even he had to admit that man was the "glory and the jest" of all the universe. For every worthy attribute of man there is a monstrous corollary.
Mankind does not warrant ecstatic praise. It has to be something beyond us to truly satisfy the urge.
Here I think is why the most human of all music is (are?) The Blues or its by-product, Jazz. At the root of even the most joyous jazz is sadness. The Blues make no bones about it... life is hard, my girl-friend hates me, my dog died, ain't got no money.... etc. Man cannnot, ultimately, celebrate himself, he can only mourn. It is only when man aspires beyond himself that true joyful expression is possible. Even Tchaikovsky's celebrated Overture is, in its booming finale, rejoicing in a victory that had to be Providentially ordered.
This particular Psalm calls forth praise from all creation and most especially from those "people near Him." I always smile when I sing of the 'sea monsters' - a not uncommon reference in Scripture where sea-serpents were evidently much feared and quite possibly, with good reason - because of the image it evokes in my imagination. Huge cacti and puny men standing in willful poses under them unite in this, they all owe praise the wisdom, power and magnificense of the God who created them all.
It's a good way to start the morning... even as one more blast of winter blankets the area with yet another snow. To remember that glossy white and shiny bright days are all the work of One who stands above us all... and who delights to hear the joyful musical expression of our appreciation of Him and His works. That's why He built us that way in the first place.
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