Psalm 150:6 says “Let everything that has breath praise the LORD.”

What if “has breath” and “praise the LORD” were reversed?

“Let everything that praises the LORD have breath.” Let everything that only praises the LORD day and night have breath…. Let only what properly glorifies Him who gives breath keep it. If this were so, what would be left of our planet?

Everything but us.

Psalm 19:1-6 says this:

1 The heavens declare the glory of God;
the sky displays his handiwork.
2 Day after day it speaks out;
night after night it reveals his greatness.
3 There is no actual speech or word,
nor is its voice literally heard.
4 Yet its voice echoes throughout the earth;
its words carry to the distant horizon.
In the sky he has pitched a tent for the sun.
5 Like a bridegroom it emerges from its chamber;
like a strong man it enjoys running its course.
6 It emerges from the distant horizon,
and goes from one end of the sky to the other;
nothing can escape its heat. (NET) 

This is how the non-human creation praises God. Our God reigns over all the earth. His authority stretches to the utmost parts of every created thing. He is deserving of the highest praise from every created proton and neutron of the entire universe. The non-human creation celebrates continuously the glory of God, and bows to His authority by continuing in their appointed domains and courses, responding to every inclination of His will. But when we humans are confronted with the will and call of God, we stomp our foot and say “no.”

Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. The mercy of God in response to our condition that makes us utter rebels, disgusted with the glory, honor and beauty of God, is earth-shattering. His mercy is literally earth-shattering, because the ultimate display of God’s mercy upon us caused the sun to darken and the earth to quake and tore down the wall of separation as the perfect Son of God took the blow of God’s justice to spare us. Our response should be a mercy to others that likewise shakes the ground of the world, especially when we realize that “has breath” and “Praise the Lord” are not reversed. We have breath. We have breath in spite of ourselves. We have breath in spite of our hideously insufficient worship, and our arrogance at thinking we know better than Him who lives forever, from whom our very life and being proceed.

Let every breath of everything that has breath Praise the Lord who gave it.