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Psalm 150:1-6

 

3/6/2016 When I was reading this chapter 150 in the Psalms, I immediately saw the pattern of questions "where," "how," with," and "who." What I got stuck on was the famous verse of "Let everything that has breath praise the Lord." There are songs with that verse.

I contemplated what "breath" meant for the longest time. Does breath mean as in Genesis 2:7 "then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature" that man is the only one with God's breath which is those who have a soul?

Did breath literally mean any thing breathing? I pondered what breathing meant. First I thought breathing would mean anything taking in oxygen. That would include people and animals and fish, but did that include plants? I asked hubby if it did and he said plants and living and they do the photosynthesis thing where they take in oxygen and process it and return it back out.

I decided to look at other scripture for interpretation and read in Psalm 148 that man, animals, fish, and birds do indeed praise God, but fire and hail, snow, mist, and stormy wind also praise God. Okay, if this breath includes plants, then does it include fire? Fire takes in oxygen and grows and spreads. If the taking in oxygen there includes plants, why wouldn't the same definition apply to fire and make Psalm 148 apply?

Then I recalled that there are verses that say the flowers praise God. Oh wait, let's look up those verses! I began recalling that "all of creation" praises God. Even rocks praise God. Back up the horses!

I think too much sometimes.

I began to see and realize there are two types of praising. For those that have brains, we consider and ponder God and praise Him for all the many attributes that he has. Now, how a dog praises God, I don't know, or any other animal. We often think of the song of a bird as praising God, so why not the sounds animals and fish make to be praising God? I decided for my definition of what breathing means to be anything with lungs. Then the fun words "Got lungs, use them!" came to me and I just loved that!

The other type of praising is merely God's creating standing on its own, showing God's power and awesomeness and love and many other attributes just be being what He created. This includes humans and animals too! So the verses that include both kinds of praising are merely that, including both kinds (fire and breath) and are not meant to be shoved into a meaning.

Another thing that came to me was that we praise God through prayer, but in this verse, we can praise God merely by our breath. Therefore, prayer is as easy as a breath! I love that too! I think there may be other verses that support this, but I'm not sure which ones yet. Prayer does not need to be in audible word as it can be in our heart and head, so prayer is as easy as breath. Maybe that is why this verse can be applied to anything with a lung and a brain, allowing me to see how animals can praise God.

Thank you for reading and allowing me to share my thoughts as I study. When I study God's word, it seems I really study and it takes me hours, as you can see by this long thought process! But I am so blessed by being with God and allowing Him to talk to me.

I think I want to know more about the "how" according to His excellent greatness" means.