How’s your posture? Are you standing or sitting? Upright or hunched? God wants us to have a ‘posture’ of praise. Whether we’re walking or running, climbing or skydiving, God wants us to be a people who passionately and persistently praise him, as the one who is above all others. He alone is worthy of this and his name stands alone (v 13). The psalmist understands this and has given us 14 wonderful verses packed full of expressions of praise to the Lord. Has he left anything or anyone out?! The heights to the depths (vs 1,7), angels, sun, moon and stars and even the weather (vs 3,8).

But what do we do when we don’t feel like praising God? Notice that neither this psalm nor anywhere else in the Bible instructs us to praise God only when we feel like it. Instead, we are encouraged to praise God continually (see Psalm 34:1). So how do we praise? We get on and do it. Why not take today’s psalm and simply start reading it out loud? Not as a recital but as your own expression of praise to the Lord. When you start, you’ll be doing so only because your will has decided to do this out of obedience, but by the time you’ve finished, your heart and your soul may have caught up and joined in!

‘And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.’¹

For years it has been my practice to take a prayer walk at night. I always follow the same route so I can focus on talking aloud to God. I take a different, longer route on Sunday, usually during the last hour of daylight. I go to what I call ‘my sanctuary’, a high spot on the path. I stand there with my arms lifted to the heavens praising God for his creation, for who he is and for what he’s done in my life. I’m imagining the psalmist standing at a similar spot as he utters this psalm. His praise follows two themes that are also part of my pattern.

First, he says, ‘Praise the Lord from the heavens’ (v 1) and proceeds to list several examples of big-picture praise: angels, heavenly hosts, sun, moon, stars and so on. It’s as if he’s an astronaut orbiting the earth with a view of the entire globe and he joins the universe of praise. When I was President of Scripture Union USA, I sometimes took a prayer walk at lunchtime. Raising my arms and looking into the sky above our building always put my day-to-day challenges in their proper perspective.

The psalmist’s second theme starts, ‘Praise the Lord from the earth’ (v 7), turning his attention to things closer to home: sea creatures, weather, mountains, hills, trees, animals and flying birds. On my Sunday prayer walks I consciously make myself aware of the sounds around me: birds, wind, rustling leaves, small animals scurrying about. I imagine myself joining with the smallest sparrow, praising our Creator in his sanctuary. I’m not worshipping creation: that’s a mistake. Instead, I’m joining with this psalmist exclaiming, ‘praise the name of the Lord, for his name alone is exalted’ (v 13)!  

Sometime today, find a small Bible and take it with you on a walk. When you get to a nice spot, read Psalm 148 aloud, then continue talking to God.

¹ Mic 6:8