“Let them praise the name of the Lord for he commanded and they were created.”
– Psalm 148:5
So that verse comes right after four verses talking about how the heavens praise the Lord, how the angels praise the Lord. The heavenly host, the army of angels, sun and moon, shining stars. They all praise the Lord. The highest heavens, the waters above the heavens, the skies they praise the Lord. Let them praise the name of the Lord. Why? Verse five says for he commanded and they were created. Like just think about this. This is obviously what we see from the very beginning of the Bible. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. How? He said, he spoke. And these things came into being. Like just picture that. What can you command to come into being? What can you speak and all of a sudden it forms? This is the supernatural power of the word of God.
God Speaks His Commands
He speaks and a sun happens. He speaks and a moon occurs. It just, it wasn’t there before. And all of a sudden it’s there because he spoke, because he commanded every single star in the sky. Like just look up in the sky at night and realize every single one of those lights is there because he commanded it and it was created. When you look at the sun during the day, realize it’s there because God spoke.
And then realize like, as we pray through the word, what kind of word are we praying through? We are praying through the supernatural word of God. Like when we open our Bibles each morning, meditate on it day and night. We are reading that which has supernatural power to bring things to life, to restore, to redeem, to lead, to guide, to move in miraculous ways. Like do not ever get to the point where you underestimate the power of the word of God.
Psalm 148:5 Praises God for His Creation
Let me say that one more time. Like do not ever get to the point where you or I underestimate the power of the word of God. Let it lead us to pray. So God you speak and creation comes into being. You speak and life happens. You speak and planets form. God, you speak and stars shine. You speak and the sky is created and sustained by your word.
We saw this in Psalm 146 and Psalm 147, reading through those Psalms. Your word is awesome beyond our comprehension. Oh God. And we bow before it. God give us, we pray a right view of your word. Help us to remember its supernatural power as we open it up and we read through it and we meditate on it and we memorize it. God, we pray that you would help us never to take your word for granted and never to underestimate its power.
And we pray together today that you would show the power of your word in our lives. That you’d show the power of your word in our families and our churches. God help pastors to proclaim your word as your power for salvation, your power for sanctification, your power for the building up of your church, your power for the salvation of the loss.
Psalm 148:5 Prays for God’s Word to be Proclaimed
God we pray that is your word is proclaimed in and through us individually, in our families, in our churches, that you would bring people from death to life. I think about one conversation I just had with a friend who tells me about someone coming to church for the first time, being exposed to church for the first time, they hear the word proclaimed and they came to faith in Christ. And then six weeks later, they had a sudden heart attack and died. God, we praise you for your word and it’s power to bring life, to bring eternal life.
We praise you that that man is now with you in heaven for all of eternity, because of the power of your word. So help us to proclaim your word. God, help us to share it, help us to trust it, help us to believe it, help us to read it like our life depends on it because it does. And help us to trust your word to do work far beyond what we could ask or imagine. We praised the name of the Lord for you commanded and all these things were created. You commanded and we were created. We praise your name for your word. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
