“Praise the LORD! Sing to the LORD a new song. Sing his praises in the assembly of the faithful. O Israel, rejoice in your Maker. O people of Jerusalem, exult in your King. Praise his name with dancing, accompanied by tambourine and harp. For the LORD delights in his people; he crowns the humble with salvation. Let the faithful rejoice in this honor. Let them sing for joy as they lie on their beds. Let the praises of God be in their mouths, and a sharp sword in their hands– to execute vengeance on the nations and punishment on the peoples, to bind their kings with shackles and their leaders with iron chains, to execute the judgment written against them. This is the glory of his faithful ones. Praise the LORD!” Psalm 149 (NLT)
Have you ever noticed how the Psalmist gives instructions that are difficult to obey? Sing a new song for example . . . it requires us to exercise our minds. We are not used to that in worship. We just gather on Sundays and mindlessly repeat the words that are displayed on the screen, in the assembly of the faithful. In order to sing a new song, we must think of the blessings and benefits from God and put words of gratitude to a tune of praise. But even in the assembly of the faithful, we sometimes find it difficult to really turn loose and rejoice in our Maker or exult in our King. Perhaps the obstacle is the individual worshipper. What would happen this Sunday, if every worshipper just let go of individual inhibitions and worshipped God with abandon?
Then there’s dancing and tambourine instructions. At first glance, the dancing seems worldly and God forbid that our feet should do anything worldly. And a tambourine is only a noise maker – not musical at all. Such an idea conjures up pictures of scantily clad dancing girls in old movies of Arabian Nights, etc. Some believers simply try to explain it all away by claiming metaphorical meaning. Others claim the Psalmist is caught up in the moment and overreacting. What would happen this Sunday, if we stopped explaining away the praise instructions and simply obeyed them?
Finally, we come to the easy instructions, praise in our mouths; sword in our hands; executing vengeance; punishment; binding with shackles and chains; executing judgment. These are instruction we can really sink our teeth into. These are instruction we get excited about. These are instructions we can follow without ever having a relationship with God. What would happen this Sunday, if we got praise out of our mouths and into our hearts? What would happen if we let praise of the All Wise Eternal One permeate our entire being?
May we remember that our praise is about our Lord! It is our Lord who delights in his people! Our Lord crowns us with salvation! O let us rejoice in honor of his works! O let us sing joyfully at every opportunity and even as we close our eyes at night. This is the glory of the faithful ones! You want to experience God’s glory? Start praising God freely, without any limitations.
Dear Father, thank you for crowning us with your salvation. Remove all fear and inhibition from your faithful ones, and empower us to worship you with abandon. This I pray in the name of Jesus. AMEN
Be encouraged today by honoring God with rejoicing,