Sing, Shout, Clap Your Hands!
“Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous…Praise the Lord…Sing to Him a new song…” Psalm 33:1-3 NKJV
I remember learning grammar in grade school and being fascinated by verbs. Verbs describe action—what a person, animal, or object does. Later, when I became a student of the Bible, I found myself drawn to the action words in Scripture. In the Psalm above, the psalmist is calling for action. He calls the people of God to get moving, to worship the Lord with rejoicing, praise, and song. It reminded me of when my family used to go to a small pentestocal church in Oceanside, Ca. The pastor and his wife were worship leaders, and they cut an album that was released on cassette tape of their original praise and worship songs. There was a track on the tape that had lyrics that said, “Sing, shout, clap your hands, give praises to your maker! Make joyful noise unto the Lord!” Those lyrics have stuck with me for over 30 years. Amazing what verbs do to our speech.
The Psalm is calling for action in response to who God is. That action in this context is worship. I have found that in some churches the time of worship can feel dreary and motionless. In other church settings, there can seem to be too much motion! So which is it? Should we dance, or should we sit quietly while worshiping the Lord? In Revelation, when John sees heaven’s throne room, he sees people falling on their faces before a holy God. That can make things feel even more confusing. How are we supposed to worship?
The beautiful thing is that the Bible does not prescribe only one method of worship. The focus of worship is not so much the style, but the object of our worship—God Himself and our Lord Jesus Christ. The “how” can take many different forms. People often get bent out of shape over how churches should worship. My pastor used to say, “Different strokes for different folks!” In Africa, worship is often very lively. In England, it may be much calmer. In America, it is a mixture of many different expressions.
The psalmist says to rejoice, praise, and sing. He does not rank one above the other, but simply calls us to worship. We were made to worship, and God is worthy of our praise. The Apostle Paul even says that our true worship is offering our lives as living sacrifices to God (Romans 12:1).
How we worship together may look different from church to church, but what matters most is that our lives bring glory to God. Whether through singing, serving, kneeling, lifting our hands, or quietly obeying Him day by day, true worship comes from a heart fully devoted to the Lord. Should you be in church worshiping? Yes, we are called to gather to praise Him, thats a special time. The goal should be to bring honor and attention to the Lord Jesus, and not to ourselves. Don’t over complicate it, but do Rejoice, Praise, and Sing! As a Christian worship should be an active part of our lives. So as Pastor Mark and Debbie sang, “Sing, shout, clap your hands!”
In Him,
Frank
No Black Out Dates
and the Lord said to Moses: “Tell Aaron your brother not to come at just any time into the Holy Place inside the veil, before the mercy seat which is on the ark, lest he die; for I will appear in the cloud above the mercy seat.” Leviticus 16:2 csb
It amazes me that people spend thousands of dollars on Disneyland passes, yet are still blocked out during certain times of the year. Perhaps you are one of those people, and this is in no way a slight against you, but rather a reflection on the park. I’m sure they have their reasons high volume, parking limitations, staffing, and so on.
In Leviticus, God tells Moses that there was only a specific time when Aaron, the high priest, could enter the Holy of Holies the dwelling place of the Ark of the Covenant. Even though he was the high priest, anointed and ordained, he couldn’t just come in whenever he wanted. The day he could enter was only once a year, called the Day of Atonement, or the Day of Covering, what we know as Yom Kippur. On that high holy day, Aaron would make atonement for the sins of the nation.
Aaron and the people had to wait an entire year to have the nation’s sins atoned for. That’s a long time, a long season of anticipation for something so important. But in the Gospels, we are told that when Jesus died on the cross, the veil of the temple—the thick curtain that separated the priests and the people from God’s presence was torn from top to bottom. Jesus atoned for mankind once and for all. Because of that, we no longer have to wait a whole year to seek covering for our sins and failures.
Hebrews 4:16 tells us that we can now come boldly to the throne of grace at any time. There are no blackout dates. We don’t have to wait for a specific time of year. Because of Jesus’ work on the cross at Calvary, access is always open. What a relief it is to know that every day God is ready and waiting to pour out His mercy (Lamentations 3:22–23). There is no reason to delay seeking forgiveness. The Lord Jesus is ready without hindrance, to provide covering.
Agape,
Frank