Loving God from the Heart VI

Our walk through the Psalms as a way of opening our hearts to love God emotionally finishes with Psalm 96, my favorite Psalm and a major theme of my life. It won't take you long to read it, but I do hope you will read it repeatedly and out loud.

Psalm 96

No one knows who wrote the great Psalms of Praise in this part of the book. But they give us templates for creating our own Psalms that come from our own experience of God. David begins "Sing a new song to the Lord." In American society, we have not cultivated the art of singing with men. I know men who don't sing in church because they really think it is something women do. Men do sing at ball games and at bars, but not so much at church. Why? I think part of it is that singing can make you feel pretty vulnerable. Men are taught to be confident and in control. Every once in awhile, I will sing to Tina. But usually it will be a silly song, which really frustrates her. Singing a serious love song, while it means the world to Tina, makes me feel really vulnerable. What if I get emotional? What if I mess something up on something so personal? Tina will like it and won't care that I don't get it perfect (which is the way I think God regards our praise to Him). But being vulnerable with the one you love can be, well, scary. I fear that some of those same feelings affect us expressing our emotional love to the one who loves us most, God.

Singing a new song is not just about singing a song you haven't sung before. I definitely believe our walk with God should always have something new developing in it. The tendency for our faith to become the story of things that happened a long time ago is a real problem for most of us. But singing the song of love to God is one that keeps on renewing and energizing our walk with God, so it is a song that is perpetually new. There are certain songs I sing to the Lord that I have sung for decades now. They connect me to the roots of my relationship with God and continue to make me new and make me more aware of God's presence in my life, in my family, in my work, and in everything I am a part of. The Psalmist invites every one to sing the song with him. It's a song for the world to sing - a song of salvation, a song of the great things God has done, a song of the greatness of God.

You may be wondering, "What kind of love song are we supposed to be singing to the Lord?" This Psalm does something the great men and women of faith have done to develop their relationship with God - celebrating the attributes of God (the main characteristics of God). The Psalmist praises God for His reality (every other god is an idol, a fake), His honor and majesty, his glory, his power and strength, and his splendor. Other Psalms add His loving kindness, His grace, His patience, His faithfulness, and so much more. As we thank God and celebrate His characteristics, we become more aware of God's presence in our lives and in the world. In short, we become more open to Him.

The Psalm, in verses 10-13, finishes with a rowdy and expansive invitation for creation itself to join in the perpetually new song of praise to God. The Pslamist "gets it," that as he sings his new song to the Lord, he is participating with all of creation in a song that it can't help but sing. And as he sings with creation he anticipates that God the righteous judge will come afresh to him and his world.

Tomorrow you will be in a worship service, a public service of love offered to the Lord. My prayer is that you will bring your "new song" (that song that tells the story of God's love in your life that never grows old) and let it join with the new songs of the lives around you. May you offer it with your whole heart. It will be music to God's ears and we will find God especially present as we share together.


P.S. There will be no blog entry on Sundays. It's a day to rest or to catch up.