“I will give thanks because of his righteousness…” (7:17). “I will give thanks to you Lord…” (9:1). “…give thanks to him and praise his name” (100:4). “Give thanks to the Lord for He is good…” (106:1). “Give thanks to your holy name…” (106:47). “Let them give thanks to the Lord…” (107:8,15,21,31). “I rise to give you thanks” (119:62).  “Give thanks to the God of heaven His love endures forever”. (136:26)

Riding on the heels of a long weekend focused around thanksgiving I had to ask myself two questions: Who did I give thanks to? Did I come humbly before my God in worship, praise and thanks for all that He has provided in my life?

The Psalms provide us with some powerful words that can help draw us into worship. David pens many of the Psalms that point to the core of worship. He reminds us that our worship, our attitude of thanksgiving needs to come from our heart and soul (the core of who we are). Psalm 103 reads: “Praise the Lord, my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits.” The benefits that David is talking about are forgiveness, healing, deliverance from death, love, and compassion. He reaches deep into his soul because he has experienced God’s goodness in his life. Our God wants the best for us; at the same time, He wants every part of us as we give Him honor and glory.

Did you forget to thank God for something this past weekend? The great thing about our God is we can come to him anytime, anywhere. As you humbly go before him follow in David’s paths in Psalm 103, go before him with all you heart and soul.

Imagine yourself sitting in the Sydney Opera House or the Royal Albert Hall in London listening to a finely tuned orchestra perform a classical score written by the likes of Beethoven, Mozart or Bach. As the orchestra plays you may hear the emotion filled sound of violin or the soft gentle flowing melody of a flute that calms the senses, then as the music continues and all the instruments play together you experience a powerful heart pounding sound that sends a shiver through your body.

As I begin to reflect on worship and read through the book of Psalms I get this picture of the orchestra in my mind. Especially in the very last Psalm, it reminds me of that moment the orchestra is playing all together. The words of Psalm 150 describe the playing of the trumpet, harp, lyre, timbrel, strings, pipe and cymbals together to give praise to God. This beautiful piece of scripture is the grand finale, the final instruction of how we are to bring praise and worship through our lives to our Heavenly Father.

The way we worship should play out like that of the orchestra playing together, it is in all parts of our life that we need to worship our God. Each one of us has the opportunity to worship and give praise to God on our own and that is critical to the development of our personal relationship with Him. It is more than just our own personal worship that God calls us to, our worship should be found in all areas of life. The Psalmist writes in verse 6 of chapter 150 “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord”. When I read these words as a living, breathing creation of a God who is always with me my life should reflect that through my daily worship and praise to Him.