Redeeming Grace Worship Blog

Friday, August 15, 2008

It's good! (Psalm 92)

Worship is good! God said so. Though this does not come as a surprise, it's nice to how good, important and even natural it is for believers to worship God. As a part of the music team, it's comforting to see that instruments and "resounding music" is involved, sounds like crash cymbals have their place!
It is good to give thanks to the Lord
And to sing praises to Your name, O Most High
To declare Your lovingkindness in the morning
And Your faithfulness by night,
With the ten-stringed lute and with the harp,
With resounding music upon the lyre.
For You, O Lord, have made me glad by what You have done.
I will sing for joy at the works of Your hands.
(Psalm 92:1-4, NASB)

I love how so many elements of worship are found in the opening verses of this psalm. What is worship? It's giving thanks to God and praising His name. What are we to thank and praise Him for? His love and His faithfulness. Is this some just some kind of silent practice of meditation? No, we can use harps, lutes and lyres to accompany our singing.
The question that remains, and that the fourth verse answers, is why? The reason and motivation for worship is the works of God. Which, coupled with His love and His faithfulness, drive us straight to the Gospel.
Try it, I dare you. Take a few minutes from the busyness of the day and worship God. Thank Him and praise Him. Declare His love and His faithfulness. Recount what He has done, both in Your life and through His Son. Isn't it good?

2 Comments:

  • I'll take you up on that dare, Jesse! It is good to praise the Lord. The key for me is how to make that not just sound religious and trite, but to really have my heart and mind engaged with the glory of Christ. My problem is that I can say, "Praise the Lord" with my lips but my heart is still far from him. True praise doesn't seem to go on like a light switch, but I need to pause and meditate on His word before I can really "feel it". Here's the question I wrestle with... what place do emotions have in our worship?

    By the way, thanks for setting up this blog, Jesse. I'm looking forward to lively debate and encouragement for our worship team!

    By Blogger Mark C, At August 15, 2008 at 11:31 AM  

  • What a co-ink-ee-dink! This was my morning's devotional reading today. I'm reading it for the next week or so along with a commentary from John Calvin.

    It was so timely. His point today was that meditating on God's goodness and faithfulness should fill our hearts and minds from morning until evening. He's supremely worthy of our continual praise.

    I know that well. Yet I find my thoughts captivated by coffee or food more frequently then by Jesus--to my shame. Thank God for His gift of the Holy Spirit to remind, refocus and refresh our hearts and minds with who God is. I don't think it is an exaggeration when the scriptures tell us that our hearts are dead apart from His redeeming grace.

    May the Holy Spirit shake us free from our blind, intoxicated love for ourselves and temporal stuff and quicken us to desire a fuller worship of Jesus Christ!

    Thanks, Jesse. This has helped increase my expectation of God's work in our hearts. I'm excited to be thinking upon this Psalm this week!

    By Blogger the "J-Pinch", At August 19, 2008 at 12:07 AM  

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