Heart of a Psalmist - Worshipping Christ Through The Psalms

The reassembled Jews returning from Babylon were encouraged to praise him for this amazing act of history as well as the original deliverance from Egypt. This extended to all of the deeds of kindness Yahweh had shown their nation throughout the centuries. The impact of these Old Testament deliver- ances, although great, does not affect the life of the believer as much as the greatest demonstration of might and power in history; the resurrection of Christ from the dead: “By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also.” (1 Cor. 6:14) This is the basis for all of our hope and rejoicing, Christ is alive! We praise him not only for what he has done, but for who he is. His greatness and strength is ampli- fied by his humility and meekness. He is the same unchanging Yahweh who revealed himself to Moses on Mount Sinai; “And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, ‘the LORD, the LORD, the compas- sionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thou- sands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin.’” (Ex. 34:6, 7) The New Testament believer stands even closer to the LORD; the cross has removed all the barriers that separated mankind from him. When is the volume of praise sufficient for his sacrifice? When is there enough Hallelujahs rendered to equal the love he has shown us? When are there enough songs to portray our gratefulness for the for- giveness he paid for at the cross? The eternal command of this psalm answers these questions; praise him for “… his unequaled greatness!”

II

PRAISE HIM

3-5

With Instruments of Praise

The instruments named here are representative of certain elements of praise and carry prophetic sig- nificance. They are included in 1 Corinthians 13 and 14, the great chapters on Love and Prophecy. The sentences can be interpreted in two ways: 1.) the singing of praise is accompanied by the instruments 2.) the playing of the instruments is in itself praise to God. Either way, the psalm is a massive endorse- ment of the use of instruments in the worship of God!

• Praise is alarming- “Praise him with a blast of the trumpet;” (3)

The instrument named here is the “shophar” ‘ …in the Old Testament it is always used of the curved musical instrument made of the horn of a ram.’ 5 In 1 Corinthians 14:8 Paul likens the prophetic word to the sound of the trumpet that directs the battle; “…if the trumpet does not sound a clear call, who will get ready for battle?” (1 Cor. 14:8 NIV) This Psalm is a call of the Holy Spirit directing his people to the spiritual warfare of energetic praise. The ‘trumpet’ was also used: • To announce the arrival of the new moon and new year- “Sound the trumpet for a sacred feast when the moon is new,…” (Ps. 81:3) Whenever God is doing a renewing work through his Holy Spirit, there will be fresh songs of praise! • To announce the ‘Year of Jubilee’- “…blow the trumpets loud and long throughout the land. This year will be set apart as holy, a time to proclaim release for all who live there. It will be a jubilee year for you…” (Lev. 25:9) Praising God is a continuous announcement and celebration of the freedom Christ has acquired for us! • To announce a new King!- “Then blow the trumpets and shout, ‘Long live King Solomon!’” (1 Kgs. 1:34) Exuberant praise is a continual announcement that Jesus Christ has been established as Lord of all! • As a mighty spiritual weapon – “When the people heard the sound of the horns (shophar), they shouted as loud as they could. Suddenly, the walls of Jericho collapsed, and the Israelites charged straight into the city form every side and captured it.” (Josh. 6:20) Entire cities can be won to Christ through his disciples who exalt him with their lives and their joyful songs of praise. • Praise is delightful- “…praise him with the lyre and harp!” (3) Everyone hears and expresses sound through stringed instruments that were created in our body. In our ear there are a set of strings called the ‘Organs of Corti’ that vibrate with sound that are then sent to the brain. Our larynx contains another set of strings that produces the sound of our voice. We were created to respond to the stringed instrument! The lyre was a stringed instrument that was larger than the harp and its name in the Hebrew ‘nebel’ , meaning ‘bottle’, suggests it had a lower bulging body at the end for resonance. Its ‘strings were

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