Tonight at worship practice we did some studying on Psalm 149. Here’s some stuff we talked about:
Psalm 149
1 Praise the LORD. (or Hallelujah!)
Why does God want us to Praise Him? I mean who does that? Praise me? Because he needs us to tell him how great He is to soothe his ego? No, of course not! Here are some reasons He tells us to do that:
1) It is the right thing to do. No one and nothing is more worthy of bragging about that God. He deserves it!
2) It is for our own good! It changes us! It gives us perspective. It is very easy for us to we get all zoomed in and caught up in our own momentary little problems and lose the bigger picture. We tend to forget how big our God is and need to regularly praise Him to regain that eternal perspective.
Sing to the LORD a new song,
Why a new song? … Think about it like this: How often do you have the same conversation with friends over and over again? It can be the same thing with prayer – conversations with God. It’s not that we can’t pray the same prayer multiple times or sing the same song multiple times. Think of the angels in heaven: Rev 4:8 - Day and night they never stop saying: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come.” – on the other hand … how deep does your relationship grow if you never talk about new things? We always want to keep pursuing a fresh, deeper relationship with God and not just live off of past experiences. That is indicative of a stale, stagnant relationship. It is important to keep exploring who God is and new songs help us to do that.
his praise in the assembly of his faithful people.
Go sing at Church! Doesn’t get much clearer than this!
2 Let Israel rejoice in their Maker;
Isra-el : wrestlers with – God. Let the children who wrestle with their Father God rejoice in their Daddy who made them in His image!
let the people of Zion be glad in their King.
The city of Jerusalem is built on the hillside of Zion (tactical high ground) and that’s where the temple was located …. Aren’t you glad that God is our King? And not you or me! Or Satan. Satan has been temporarily been given some leeway here, but eventually God will rule! Thy Kingdom come!
3 Let them praise his name with dancing
Did you catch that? We are supposed to Dance. Yep, we baptists should dance. It’s in the scriptures. ’nuff said. How do I propose we implement this? … Not sure yet. Any of you have ideas? We clap and sway, but I want more!
Check out this little clip of a church having a dance party! http://www.twitvid.com/DK5Y4
and make music to him with timbrel and harp.
Modern equivalent: tamborines and guitars! Yes! Portable instruments that you can dance and play at the same time!
4 For the LORD takes delight in his people;
God delights in us. Isn’t that an amazing thought?! Definitely worth dancing over.
he crowns the humble with victory.
Some translations say “salvation” … they key to victory both now and for eternity is humility. Acknowledge that there is a real God and you are not it. Very key truth.
5 Let his faithful people rejoice in this honor
and sing for joy on their beds.
I’d like to do some further study on this, but I’m guessing at least part of it is that they rejoice in God both publicly and privately. Anyone know any more about this phrase?
6 May the praise of God be in their mouths
and a double-edged sword in their hands,
7 to inflict vengeance on the nations
and punishment on the peoples,
8 to bind their kings with fetters,
their nobles with shackles of iron,
9 to carry out the sentence written against them—
this is the glory of all his faithful people.
There is a very real connection between singing and warfare, between worship and spiritual battles. You see it throughout the Psalms. David was a literal warrior who killed many people with his very hands. And he wrote many of the psalms. Singing is NOT for wusses. What we choose to celebrate with our music is important and has impacts on the spiritual battles going on all around us. So, church, let’s get ready for battle and SING!
Praise the LORD. (or Hallelujah – again!)
Notice anything I missed?
Let me know!
