Sing To The Lord A New Song, for he has done marvelous things; his right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him. The LORD has made his salvation known and revealed his righteousness to the nations. He has remembered his love and his faithfulness to the house of Israel; all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth, burst into jubilant song with music; make music to the LORD with the harp, with the harp and the sound of singing, with trumpets and the blast of the ram’s horn — shout for joy before the LORD, the King. Let the sea resound, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it. Let the rivers clap their hands, let the mountains sing together for joy; let them sing before the LORD, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples with equity (Psalm 98, from the NIV).
This scripture captures an emotion for me, it reminds me of a moment — a moment when it feels like your small, mortal body is filled with the power of God, a moment when hundreds of people who share your beliefs are raising their voices and singing with you, a moment when you can almost feel the spirit of God humming around you. This is a feeling that overpowers you and reminds you that you’re a part of something larger. I may be speaking for myself, but praising God in music has these effects on me. Praise is a very powerful thing. It is made more powerful in music. David knew this, the apostles knew this, and Jesus knew this as well. Singing praise to our father is a moving, personal action that we are commanded to do.
Understanding what praise means
The concept of “praise” can be very confusing to us, because it seems to be so broadly applied in the Bible. Praise also feels very strange for us. By nature, we don’t normally praise: Parents have this problem with their children, teachers with their students, bosses with their employees. A clearer understanding of praise should help us figure out why we should go about praising our heavenly Father.
The dictionary definition of Praise is “to glorify (a god or saint) especially by the attribution of perfections.” To glorify God is why we praise him. David shows us an example of this in Psalm 138:5: “Yea, they shall sing in the ways of the LORD: for great is the glory of the LORD.” We can see that the purpose of singing praise is to bring glory to God our Father.
In the Bible, the words “sing” and “praise” are mentioned together in the same verse 29 times. In comparison ‘exhort’ is only mentioned 16 times in the whole Bible. Paul writes to us a few times about singing praises: In Ephesians 5:19-21 he writes:
Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.
Paul definitely understood the power of singing praise. He mentions it again in Colossians 3:14-16:
And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.”
Benefits of praise
Aside from both mentioning different ways to sing praises, in these passages we get an idea of the humility we should have when we are singing praises to our Father. David was very passionate about singing praise to God. In II Samuel 6 we find the story of King David when he is returning from rescuing the Ark of the Covenant from the Philistines. II Samuel 6:15-16 reads:
So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the LORD with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet. And as the ark of the LORD came into the city of David, Michal Saul’s daughter looked through a window, and saw king David leaping and dancing before the LORD; and she despised him in her heart.
He was so moved with the shouts of the people and the songs that were being sung that he was even dancing! This is a passion we all should feel about singing praise to our Father. Singing hymns or spiritual songs is putting our prayers to music. It should be an emotional action for us.
Praising God has benefits to us as well. It helps us with our perspective, reminds us who we need to be praising and humbles us while we meditate or sing His praises. Praising God in music draws us closer to Him. It also clears our mind. Have you ever noticed how few impure thoughts you have when you are busy praising God? When we lift our voices in praise to our Father, we are bringing ourselves closer to Him.
Improving our praise
So if we understand the power and necessity of singing our praises to our Father, what should we do to make our praises better? We need to recognize the power of our hymns and songs. A hymn is a prayer to God, and we should treat it as such. We should sing with feeling and intensity. Don’t worry about the tune, concentrate on the words.
It can be so hard for us sometimes. The hymns can feel outdated. There is a very interesting connection between Psalm 149 and Psalm 98 which I quoted at the beginning of this article, that should be of some help for us when we feel uninspired by our hymns. Psalm 149:1 reads: “Praise ye the LORD. Sing unto the LORD a NEW song, and his praise in the congregation of saints.” And back in Psalm 98:1 we are told: “Sing to the LORD a NEW song, for he has done marvelous things; his right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him.”
What does it mean when the writer says, here and elsewhere, “a NEW song”? According to Strong’s Concordance, the Hebrew word gives the idea of a “fresh, new thing.” Each of us needs to make our praise personal, fresh and new for ourselves. God doesn’t just want you to glumly follow along and mumble the words to the hymns that people wrote 100 years ago, He wants you to think for yourself and praise Him from your own heart. Praise Him in a way that is new and fresh for you.
Even if you aren’t the best singer, take ownership of the hymns and meditate on them. You can make praise fresh in your everyday life as well. Sing any song to yourself. It doesn’t have to rhyme, and you don’t have to perform it, all you have to do is sing fervently and genuinely to God. Bring glory to our Father with whatever you have.
At the last supper
Matthew 26:26-30 records:
And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; For this is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom. And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives.
Here is a passage relating to us the details of the last supper – a supper which we share in our ecclesias every week. The remembrance we share gives us the opportunity to meditate on the grace of God. What strikes a powerful chord is the last verse in the passage. “And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives.” One of the last things the apostles did with Christ was sing.
It is our hope that we will sing praises with Jesus Christ and with the faithful of all ages. Revelation 15:2-3 reads:
And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God. And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints.
We gather and take part in those emblems and we remember the night Jesus left his disciples and was slain on the cross, so that we might thank God for the grace we have received. We are given a chance to meditate on the time when we will be with Jesus in the kingdom of God, when we will share a new meal with him. After we are finished with that great meal, we will join the Son in lifting our voices in praise to our Father. That is our hope, and that is our inspiration to lift our voices in praise.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One