Psalm 33:1-3 (NIV)
Sing joyfully to the Lord, you righteous; it is fitting for the upright to praise him. Praise the Lord with the harp; make music to him on the ten-stringed lyre. Sing to him a new song; play skillfully, and shout for joy.
Katherine Mansfield (1888-1923) was an amazing writer from New Zealand, but she did not know the God who created her. Due to poor health, she moved to Switzerland where she found herself delighting in the crisp mountain air and the breathtaking scenery. She wrote to a friend, “If only one could make some small grass-hoppery sound of praise – giving thanks to someone, but who?” How sad that she clearly recognized the beauty and majesty and design of God’s creation…yet did not know to whom to give her thanks.
Do you ever find yourself going through the motions when it comes time to “stand and sing” on Sunday morning? It is a regular and expected part of virtually every church service in America, but as the old saying goes, “familiarity breeds contempt,” or in this case, at least a bit of tepidness. It has become increasingly easier to be distracted in our highly distracted world, and that insidious craving for something new and different is the science that fuels the ever-increasing profit margins of the biggest social media companies. So when the worship music starts, perhaps you are more focused on who is entering the room, what people are wearing, the attractive person in the other row, or the notifications screen on your smartphone. None of us are immune.
Charles Spurgeon remarked, “To rejoice in temporal comforts is dangerous, to rejoice in self is foolish, to rejoice in sin is fatal, but to rejoice in God is heavenly.” We have so much to rejoice about! We have so much to offer praise for! We have so many good reasons to sing! If all you focus on when it comes time to sing praises to the Lord is the fact that you have been saved from the penalty of your sins…isn’t that enough? If you can’t find anything in the past week to be thankful for…can you not be thankful for the fact that you are fully known by God and yet fully loved, too? If the circumstances of your life don’t naturally create a new song in your heart…won’t a return to the bloody cross of Calvary where your Savior could have put a stop to that violent madness by calling down 12-legions of angels (60,000) to rescue him, yet chose to endure it all for your sake? Yes, to rejoice in these things of God is indeed heavenly!
Steven J. Cole wraps this up so well in his commentary on Psalm 33:
“Thankfulness and worship are bound up with trusting in the Lord. When you have no human means of escape and you cry out to God as your only hope and He delivers you, your heart overflows in thankfulness and praise to Him. When a slick method works, the method gets the praise. When God works, then He gets the praise. And its rather exuberant praise that the psalmist calls for (v. 1-3). You may protest that your personality is too reserved to get excited about worship. But we all get excited about that in which we delight (think about watching your favorite sports team, for instance). The secret to heartfelt praise and thanksgiving is to recognize that you were in a desperate situation. You could not save yourself from God’s righteous judgment. You cried to the God who spoke the universe into existence, the God who sent His Son, to save you by His grace. Because now you have experienced His great love and grace, you delight in Him and His great salvation and you can’t help but sing for joy!”
I hope these truths help you this coming Sunday when, once again, it comes time to “stand and sing”.
