Thursday, February 6, 2014

Psalm 98:1-9


Salutation

... in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.  Amen.  Through the prayers of our holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us.  Amen.  Glory to You, our God, Glory to You.

O Heavenly King: Prayer to the Holy Ghost

O Heavenly King, the Comforter, the Spirit of truth, You are everywhere and fill all things, Treasury of blessings, and Giver of life: come and abide in us, and cleanse us from every impurity, and save our souls, O Good One.

Psalm 98:1-9[1]

A Psalm.

Sing to the Lord a new song: for He has done marvelous things.  His right hand, His holy arm, has gotten Him the victory.  The Lord has made known His salvation.  His righteousness has He openly showed in the sight of the heathen.  He has remembered His mercy, and His truth to the house of Israel.  All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.

Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth.  Make a loud noise!  Rejoice!  Sing praise!  Sing to the Lord with the harp, with the harp, and the voice of a psalm.  With trumpets and sound of cornet, make a joyful noise before the Lord, the King.

Let the sea roar, and the fullness of it; the world, and those who dwell in them.  Let the floods clap [their] hands.  Let the hills be joyful together before the Lord: for He comes to judge the earth.  He shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with equity.

________

If you have been blessed or helped by any of these meditations in Psalms, please repost or share all of them.



[1] The author and date for this delightful Psalm are unstated.  We recommend that the reader sing this Psalm, by any means possible.  We are far too concerned that its language might be Greek or Hebrew; the language of theology is poetry and hymnology.  By teaching yourself to sing this, as well as other Psalms, you will begin to understand the claim: the language of theology is poetry and hymnology.  This Psalm is a good and easy place to start singing.  Sing.  Sing your heart out to God.
The psalmist begins with a sung oration addressed equally to pagan and Israelite.  God’s righteous heart has always been open to all people from square one.  There is no such thing as a special chosen people, with special privileges in God’s plan.  There is only a people chosen to be messengers of God’s merciful, truthful, and righteous salvation to every last soul on earth.  This is the mission of both the Old Testament Church, more commonly known as Israel, and the New Testament Church, better known as simply The Church.  The mission is accomplished primarily through worship.  The universe is invited to see worship and enter into it, so it is promulgated more by worship example than by blunt message.  The message must not be separated from worship, but must rather flow from the heart of worship.  Sing.  Sing your heart out to God.
The second paragraph is addressed more specifically to the earth, which may be a reference to Israel and Judah.  The message has not changed.  Worship is central to the message.  Sing.  Make your worship a living reality.  Fill your day with worshipful singing.  No, not with silly, senseless little choruses.  Sing the Psalms.  Sing the Scripture.  Sing profoundly.  If you can’t sing very well, make noise: set up an earth shattering clamor.  Sing, and make it loud.  Sing like you really mean it.
The final paragraph is addressed to the sea, which is probably a reference to the pagan world.  The message is the same.  Sing.  Come join us in worshipful singing.  Let joy flood your life, because Jesus has brought freedom, and equality to the earth.  The eternal jubilee has come.  Only evil beings would take this away from you: forget them.  Sing.  Sing in your pleasure and in your pain.  Sing only to God.  This alone will bring peace to our strife torn world.  Sing.

No comments:

Post a Comment