Hallelujah!

I was reading through Psalm 148 which is about all of creation praising God.  Hallelujah!
Praise God from heaven,
praise him from the mountaintops;
Praise him, all you his angels,
praise him, all you his warriors,
Praise him, sun and moon,
praise him, you morning stars;
Praise him, high heaven,
praise him, heavenly rain clouds;
Praise, oh let them praise the name of God—
he spoke the word, and there they were! (Ps. 148:1-5 MSG)

The first word in this Psalm is Hallelujah. I’ve grown up with this word, but I’ve never really thought about what it meant. I looked it up:

Hallelujah—from Hebrew-- hallalu-yah "praise Jehovah," --from hillel "he praised," of imitative origin, with primary sense being "to trill." Second element is yah, shortened form of Yahweh, name of God. (www.dictionary.com)

Hallelujah--to trill, vibrate, quaver in response to God.

How can trees, animals, snow, and ice praise God? They just exist; they don’t have thoughts or words. Yet they fulfill the purpose for which God created them, and thus magnify the Lord.

As humans, our potential for praise is exponentially greater than everything else in creation. We were created for higher thinking. We are given the ability to form thoughts and words. We are able to glorify God through our actions. We are able to appreciate and vibrate in response to God.

What is the purpose of a magnifying glass? It allows the viewer to see something more clearly. Our purpose is to magnify the Lord, to allow others to look through us and see God’s glory.

“My soul ·praises [exalts; glorifies; magnifies] the Lord” (Luke 1:46 EXB)