David has been made King and has conquered Jerusalem and now the Ark of the Covenant is being brought into the city.
David appoints Levites to guide the people, musicians, and singers, makes sacrifices to God, gives a bounty of food to all those present and leads the people to sing a song of praise and thanks to God.
This psalm is part of this triumphant celebration. All the earth is being invited to praise God.
More than the people, the trees and oceans, the fields, all creation is called to praise God. God is coming to judge the earth and the peoples with his truth.
As we enter into this last week of the year, we once again turn our hearts and minds to the coming of Christ. We have choices as to how we react, and David tells us to react with thanks and praise.
We have talked before about the necessity of praising God for his goodness, but we need to look at our own thoughts about Christ's return.
How would we judge ourselves? How do we judge our righteousness? Are we the people that God created us to be? How would we account for the choices we have made?
If we're not happy with our answers, then it's time to ask God what we can do to do a better job with our choices.
Can we pray better, be more forgiving and compassionate? Can we do more to help the poor? Can we work harder for justice for those who are disabled or in any other way vulnerable?
All we need to do is ask God for direction, and he will let us know how best to praise him in our words and in our works.
