Praise the Lord!

 Psalm 113  "Praise the Lord!"  the psalmist writes, and as if he can't say it strongly enough, he repeats it.. "Praise, O servants of the Lord. Praise the name of the Lord. Blessed be the name of the Lord.. " 

Bless His name..  "from this time forth and forever.. " 

Bless His name..   "From the rising of the sun to its setting the name of the Lord is to be praised." 

He is "high above all nations."  Our God is exalted above the strongest, the richest and the greatest nations.  He is greater than the most powerful, the most prosperous, and the most populated..  "His glory is above the heavens." 

"Who is like the Lord our God, who is enthroned on high.. ?"  Our God has to stoop to "behold the things that are in heaven and in the earth.."  The heavens themselves.. in all their vastness.. across all of the universe.. is beneath the throne of the Lord our God. Yet... 

"He raises the poor from the dust, and lifts the needy from the ash heap, to make them sit with princes.." 

"He makes the barren woman abide in the house as a joyful mother of children." 

This is the wonder of the Lord our God.. as high and exalted and powerful as He is.. He has chosen to help the poorest, weakest, and humblest of us.. Hallelujah!  What a mighty God we serve!

Father in heaven, we lift up our voices to praise Your holy name!  You are our great God. You are good!  You are kind, merciful, and full of compassion.  You do wonderful works for Your children. You rescue us from evil and show us forgiveness for our sin.  You love us.  You delight in us when we come to You with our little gifts of praise and thanksgiving.  We are so small in our understanding and knowledge of You.. but You love us anyway.  You are worthy of all our praise and thanks.  Blessed is Your name in all the earth! Amen.