February 4: Hallelujah, Praise Jehovah
This week, I invite you to read my blog post on Ephesians 5, which, for me, is a “life passage” for worship. In Ephesians 5:19, we are instructed to “speak to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit.” This directive has become a bit of a theme for me, as I try to include both hymns and songs in our worship repertoire on Sunday mornings and in our “Worship Song of the Month” devotionals, and also to choose some hymns and songs that are based on Psalms.
This month, we will be singing a hymn that is even more directly tied to the Psalms. Hallelujah, Praise Jehovah is an example of what we call a metrical, versified, or rhymed Psalm. Throughout the month of February, we will look at Psalm 146 (NIV) side by side with the metered version, and enjoy singing what is essentially Scripture itself.
Today, let’s look at the first verse of “Hallelujah, Praise Jehovah.”
Praise the LORD.
Hallelujah, praise Jehovah.
Praise the LORD, my soul.
O my soul, Jehovah praise.
I will praise the LORD all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.
I will sing the glorious praises of my God through all my days.
Do not put your trust in princes,
Put no confidence in princes,
in human beings, who cannot save.
nor for help on man depend.
When their spirit departs, they return to the ground;
He shall die, to dust returning,
on that very day their plans come to nothing.
and his purposes shall end.
In this part of the Psalm and song, we instruct our souls to praise the LORD (in all caps, meaning Jehovah or Yahweh or I AM). We call him by his most intimate and holy name, and then we commit to worship him our entire lives. We remind ourselves to put our trust only in God, not in earthly rulers or leaders or human helpers. Our plans and the plans of those on whom we would rely will ultimately end. Only God’s purposes extend beyond a lifetime, from generation to generation, throughout eternity.
For Reflection: Remind your “soul” of all that God has done for you. Remind yourself that, even when you fail, leaders fail, or the people around you fail, God never does. Commit to praising God for the rest of your life. Praise the Lord!
carrie blythe davies 
This is great, Carrie. Many times I have struggled to come to terms with singing – aware of the music, the arrangements, the participants, my own platform engagement, the people around me hearing me and my loud voice, yes, and the impurity of my heart. (I can hardly wait to worship before the throne of God without distraction!) And yet, though I sometimes stop singing in order to focus better on the words (or to better catch the melody line or to stop hearing my self in order to quiet my conflicting thoughts), I sing – even if only out of obedience and gratitude that God has given me a voice and and the Spirit has given me the desire and a song to sing. Jesus translates my singing to the Father, knowing that I want my heart to be right, that I have a deep desire to worship in mind, body, soul, and spirit, and that He has covered me with His blood.
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Thank you for sharing your heart! These struggles can be very real for musician-worshippers. Thankful that God accepts and uses our imperfect worship – and delights in it!
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Amen!
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