Amen – Verse 5

Praise to the Lord, O let all that is in me adore Him
All that hath life and breath, come now with praises before Him
Let the Amen sound from His people again
Gladly fore’er we adore Him
– Fifth verse of Praise to the Lord, the Almighty

This verse again reminds us of the joy that comes from encouraging our souls to praise the Lord. This encouraging of ourselves was seen before in Psalm 103:1-22 as David encouraged his soul to speak wonderful things about the Lord, and to meditate on all of the great benefits that He had bestowed upon him. Our aim in worship must be the same. We should always be striving to exhort our souls to enjoy God with all that we are, and to meditate on His goodness and the benefits that He has given to us. Our praise to the Lord should be total – giving God our all in our worship. May our thoughts meditate on His goodness; may our mouths speak of His grace towards us, and may our hearts enjoy the rest and satisfaction that only He can give to our souls.

Psalm 150:1-6 is an excellent description of how our praise to the Lord should involve all of our devotion and adoration. The author of this hymn uses the last words of this Psalm to call all of creation to Praise the Lord for His mighty deeds and His greatness. All praise belongs to the Lord from all creation because He is the Sovereign Creator of it all. He is not just Lord of His people who sing praises to Him, but He is Lord over all creation, giving breath even to the mouths that curse Him. Today, regardless of whether we believe in Him for salvation or not, we owe Him. He deserves all of our praise and honor because He is the Lord who is the Creator and governor over everything. This is why the Psalmist calls out and exhorts all that has life and breath to come with praises before the Lord, because God as giver of life and breath is worthy of all praise.

Furthermore, this verse exhorts God’s people to take in the greatness of the Lord and in the midst of their offering praise to the Lord, they respond with the Amen. This word Amen, which means “so be it”, is a term packed with very strong affirmation of something that is true. This Amen resounds from God’s people because they are in full agreement that the Lord is great and He is worthy to be praised and adored for His mighty acts! In our worship to the Lord, may we, with all that is in us, joyfully agree and affirm that God is great and glorious! May we respond “Amen”, affirming that He is merciful, mighty and loving! For those who trust in the Lord, this amen is not a formality or even something temporary we do when we enter into a church. Rather, our lives should be defined by this joyful response of agreement that our God is almighty. Our adoring and praising the Lord should not end when the music stops, and blessing His name will not cease when our lives are over, but it should continue with gladness and joy, knowing that we will worship the Lord forever, spending eternity in adoration of Him for who He is and what He has done for us.

Rayshawn Graves
www.adjustmythoughts.com