Recently I came across what is known as an acrostic Psalm. Psalms 111 and 112 are acrostic Psalms. It simply means that the first letter of the phrases in the Psalm correspond to a Hebrew alphabet. Both these Psalms have 22 phrases with each phrase representing the alphabets. Also these Psalms, 111-118 were learnt by heart by every Hebrew child. So that means, if you were to ask a Hebrew child, “A for?” and he would reply back with the first phrase of the Psalm and so forth. So is this how they taught their children their ABCs?! The knowledge about the Lord was ingrained deep inside the Hebrew children.
However, interestingly, the Psalm 111 begins with “Hallelujah”. This phrase is outside the acrostic pattern described earlier. So can we now say that “Hallelujah” comes before the “ABCs”? Or in other words, praise is so important that it comes before even the very basic things of our life? Or in still other words, praise is so important that we should teach it to our children even before we teach them ABC? Or in still other words, praise is so important that it is praise that we should utter first before we indulge in communication of any other sort with anyone? I think we can. Praise comes first. Praise should precede everything. Psalm 33 says that praise is comely for the upright. It looks beautiful on the upright. It’s the best fit if the upright is approaching the Lord himself. Nothing looks as good on him as praise!
So let’s adorn ourselves, ready ourselves, with praise at all times especially when we approach Him. As David follows up in Psalm 111, let’s praise Him with our whole heart. Whatever be our situation, God Almighty deserves our praise, so praise him always.
