589_It is pleasant to praise the Lord (Psalm 135) Psalm 135 Praise the Lord! Praise the name of the Lord, give praise, O servants of the Lord, 2 who stand in the house of the Lord, in the courts of the house of our God! 3 Praise the Lord, for the Lord is good; sing to his name, for it is pleasant! 4 For the Lord has chosen Jacob for himself, Israel as his own possession. 5 For I know that the Lord is great, and that our Lord is above all gods. 6 Whatever the Lord pleases, he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps. 7 He it is who makes the clouds rise at the end of the earth, who makes lightnings for the rain and brings forth the wind from his storehouses. 8 He it was who struck down the firstborn of Egypt, both of man and of beast; 9 who in your midst, O Egypt, sent signs and wonders against Pharaoh and all his servants; 10 who struck down many nations and killed mighty kings, 11 Sihon, king of the Amorites, and Og, king of Bashan, and all the kingdoms of Canaan, 12 and gave their land as a heritage, a heritage to his people Israel. 13 Your name, O Lord, endures forever, your renown, O Lord, throughout all ages. 14 For the Lord will vindicate his people and have compassion on his servants. 15 The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of human hands. 16 They have mouths, but do not speak; they have eyes, but do not see; 17 they have ears, but do not hear, nor is there any breath in their mouths. 18 Those who make them become like them; so do all who trust in them. 19 O house of Israel, bless the Lord! O house of Aaron, bless the Lord! 20 O house of Levi, bless the Lord! You who fear the Lord, bless the Lord! 21 Blessed be the Lord from Zion, he who dwells in Jerusalem! Praise the Lord! There was a well-known composer who, after finishing a magnificent symphony, was asked what inspired the soaring final movement. His answer surprised the audience. “I wrote it,” he said, “during one of the darkest seasons of my life. I knew if I didn’t lift my eyes to something higher than my pain, I would be swallowed by it. So I forced myself to sit at the piano every evening and write one line of praise—just one. Eventually, those lines became a song, and the song became joy.” He paused before concluding, “Sometimes praise isn’t the result of joy. Sometimes praise is the pathway to joy.” That is the heartbeat of Psalm 135. The psalm opens with a command, almost like the conductor raising his baton: “Praise the Lord!” And before we reach the end, the psalmist repeats it again as if to make sure the melody never fades. This psalm isn’t a suggestion, nor is it a gentle encouragement. It is a call—a call to worship, to lift our eyes
