“Oh sing to the
Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth! Sing to the Lord, bless His name; tell of His
salvation from day to day. Declare His
glory among the nations, His marvelous works among all the peoples! . Splendor and majesty are before Him;
strength and beauty are in His sanctuary.
Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the peoples, ascribe to the Lord
glory and strength! Ascribe to the Lord
the glory due His name; bring an offering and come into his courts! Worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness;
tremble before Him all the earth! Say
among the nations, ‘The Lord reigns!
Yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved; He will judge
the peoples with equity.” Psalm
96: 1-3; 6-10 (ESV).
With great exuberance the writer of Psalm 96 invites readers
(and hearers, for this is a hymn-psalm used in worship) to sing a new song unto
the Lord. On worship days believers
still meet in many congregations throughout the world, wherever the Word of the
Lord is proclaimed. A usual part of
worship is singing songs of praise to God—Creator, Sustainer, Father,
Savior. This psalm invites worship in
new and adoring ways and in recognition of God’s omnipotence. We sometimes recoil as “new songs” are
introduced into our orders of worship in churches. We like the old, the familiar. We are often resistant to change and dubious
when hymns which we may not have heard before are introduced into worship. Yet
God’s Word commands us in many places, not just in Psalm 96:1, to “sing to the Lord a new song’—and that
admonition is extensive, including “all
the earth.”
One of the check-points I do almost every Sunday is to read
from the hymnal who wrote the words and composed the music of the hymns and
spiritual songs we sing. I recognize these
contributors to our worship and thank God for the talents they employed to add
to our experiences of worship. I think,
when our talented keyboardists (organist, pianist, other instrumentalists) play
the prelude, postlude or offertory, how many people have contributed to this
phase of our worship. Those who are the
faithful presenters of the music are offering their dedication in years of
study and preparation to play flawlessly and worshipfully their sacrifice of
praise. They, in turn, owe gratitude to
the teachers who taught them fundamentals of music and how to be facile in the
execution of a piece of music set before them.
Beyond the pieces of music are the composers, likewise whose talent was
a gift from God, and whose inspiration and writing of the piece was
God-initiated. Apply these same points
of talent, inspiration, study and production of the music to each hymn we sing,
each song that inspires us and we have a virtual army of people who are
offering up a sacrifice of praise to the Lord God. Is it any wonder that the English Standard
Version of the focal passage verses today use exclamation marks to denote the
exuberance and wonder of this whole process of bringing “a new song” before the Lord in worship? What a wonder it is, indeed!
We are not alone in offering up new songs to the Lord, our Redeemer!
As we gather for praise, worship, adoration and
proclamation, may we picture peoples from all nations and tongues raising a
mighty chorus of praise to God. We are
in the midst of that great throng! This
is prelude of a future promised time and place when “every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord, to
the glory of God the Father” (see Isaiah 45:23, Romans 14:11, Philippians
2:10). I choose from Psalm 33 verses that
reiterate the joyous experience of praise:
“Shout for joy in the Lord, O you righteous!
Praise befits
the upright.
Give thanks to the Lord with the
lyre;
Make melody to
Him with the harp of ten strings!
Sing to Him a new song;
Play skillfully
on the strings, with loud shouts…(Ps. 33:1-3)
The earth is full of the
steadfast love of the Lord! (Ps. 33:5b) [From ESV] Amen!
