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1 Praise the LORD! Praise the LORD from the heavens; Praise Him in the heights! 2 Praise Him, all His angels; Praise Him, all His hosts! 3 Praise Him, sun and moon; Praise Him, all you stars of light! 4 Praise Him, you heavens of heavens, And you waters above the heavens! 5 Let them praise the name of the LORD, For He commanded and they were created. 6 He also established them forever and ever; He made a decree which shall not pass away. 7 Praise the LORD from the earth, You great sea creatures and all the depths; 8 Fire and hail, snow and clouds; Stormy wind, fulfilling His word; 9 Mountains and all hills; Fruitful trees and all cedars; 10 Beasts and all cattle; Creeping things and flying fowl; 11 Kings of the earth and all peoples; Princes and all judges of the earth; 12 Both young men and maidens; Old men and children. 13 Let them praise the name of the LORD, For His name alone is exalted; His glory is above the earth and heaven. 14 And He has exalted the horn of His people, The praise of all His saints— Of the children of Israel, A people near to Him. Praise the LORD! The final verses of this psalm specifically mention the closeness of the Lord to the individual. This psalm depicts how it is not just a solitary walk. People do have a sense of aloneness and that is where many find points of trouble going all the way to desperation. But the reality is, that others are close and the Lord is close and that can be contemplated even at the points of difficulty. It is easy to imagine in a fictional sense ways in which an individual could have been so much more alone. A person could be on a planet where they were just the only one. Being like the man on the moon and the only man on the moon;. Or another form of being distant would be if someone was so dissimilar to other people, in significant waysm, when the truth is our likes and dislikes in many ways are similar to others.. Say for example, someone looked almost completely different than anyone else on the planet, that would create a sense of distance that would be hard to deal with or even fathom. If the things someone liked were so alien to what is out there, there would be very little to do that they would enjoy. Or if the common everyday wants of someone were so different from others, that they felt like they were outcasts. Maybe in this imagery scene, someone would love swimming but it was considered strange and bizarre by everyone else on the planet. They would feel alone, distant, with their desire to swim as nobody else had the same desire or interest. Nobody else would be at the beach and there would be no lifeguard chairs set up as there would be no set of customers for the lifeguards. Closeness is why books and movies for example do sometimes resonate, it is because the viewer or reader finds traits in the characters that are commonly felt and they can empathize with the characters depicted. Restaurants have a wide base of customers because more than a handful of people might like their food. While this is the case, it could be otherwise, everybody could be so different that it could take on nightmarish proportions but there is such a common element to mankind's experience that this is part of the closeness that this psalm is depicting and part of that closeness potentially can be found in prayer and praise of the Lord. As far as prayer, we can pray for others that might be in similar situations or feel similar ways. It is out of an affinity that is to a degree closeness that prayers can be crafted to those even in the far distance who are yet close at hand in terms of similarly felt needs. It is not only troubles that are felt in common, but also the joys and exhilaration that can be shared with others. This is why people might say they are with you in spirit, meaning they share the sentiments n some common way. People that for example see or experience something great, always feel the want to share this with others or with the Lord in prayer. If something exciting happens, there can be a desire to share this with someone else who can appreciate the excitement and wonder involved. And it is not just other people, but also angels that are with us and share with us in our experiences and we are part of their experience even as they are part of our experience as this psalm explicitly mentions angels in verse 2 right at the beginning of this psalm. People do sometimes feel out of place, but the call is to closeness and prayer and meditation in the presence of the Lord will raise the awareness and consciousness of this closeness and how the call is to this closeness, first in the direct one on one relationship with the Lord but also with an outreach to the common humanity of others and even the commonness of all of the universe as being created under the presence of the Almighty Creator who isn't distant but remains close to his creation and offers this closeness out of love for the individual soul who is never forsaken. There is unification in this psalm of the praise of the Lord, within the universe itself and nobody and nothing that is created is left out or left alone and all are included in being invited to His presence.. There is togetherness and closeness to the praise, young men and old, women and children, kings and the commoner all together in praising the Lord. The closeness the Lord gives to us in our relationship with others is a gift that mirrors in small ways his closeness to us which is far more magnificent that any closeness we could imagine. The deep and profound sharing with others is a part of the profound closeness of the Lord to the very soul of the individual person yet this experience also broadens to the unified praise with all others according to the vision of this psalm. People have so many ideas of being out of place and yet the larger truth for all is closeness. That understanding of the closeness to others and how they might experience things is part and parcel to intercessory prayer and as the distresses of others are brought before the Lord in prayerful contemplation. In the New Testament, we have the picture of the transfiguration, Where Jesus brings his disciples close so that they can be right there as he is with Moses and Elijah, who survive past their lifetimes in the eternal realms as individuals as the nearness and closeness to the Lord continues on. That transfiguration brings about a foreshadowing of the believers own transformation, while the closeness takes a new form into the eternal. This call to closeness is both now in this very day, all the way to the eternal in which we remain in him in those everlasting bonds of eternal closeness.
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