Student Leaders

by Mia Carrasco

I recently read through Psalm 150, the final psalm in Psalms, and was really encouraged and challenged by it. So, I thought that I should share what I learned and was encouraged by in Psalm 150.

When I was reading through Psalm 150, I noticed that the words "him", and "his" are repeated multiple times. So I counted. The word "him" was used nine times within five verses, while the word "his" was used three times within two verses. When I first read Psalm 150 I was confused about why the author of this Psalm would repeat the two words so many times. Especially since I was taught in my English classes to avoid repeating the same words too many times when writing an essay.

I thought to myself jokingly, "What? Did the person who wrote this not have an editor?"

However, the longer I looked at the six verses in Psalm 150, I realized there was purpose behind the repetition.

To me, I took the repetition of "him" and "his" as a reminder that we should praise God because of who He is, and never because of who we are or how we feel.

I know that my emotions are constantly changing. I switch from happy to frustrated to mad to sad in a matter of moments. If I were to only praise God when I'm happy or only when I feel like it would benefit me, I would miss out on so many opportunities to worship the one who has saved me. If I decide to commit to worshiping and praising God, even when it's hard (because it will get hard) I am resting in who He is. I will be resting in His "excellent greatness" as Psalm 150 puts it. When I am able to look outside of my emotions and look upward to Christ it is a gift. A gift of knowing that even when I feel like I am out of control, or when I am in pain that I can rest in God's goodness, and in His control.

I think that it is amazing that I get to worship a God who is unchanging, even when I feel like the world around me is constantly changing and transforming. I think that Psalm 150 is a needed reminder to praise God constantly, and only because of who He is!