Sing Give Look

Sing, Give, Look

96 Oh sing to the Lord a new song;
    sing to the Lord, all the earth!
2 Sing to the Lord, bless his name;
    tell of his salvation from day to day.
3 Declare his glory among the nations,
    his marvelous works among all the peoples!
4 For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised;
    he is to be feared above all gods.
5 For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols,
    but the Lord made the heavens.
6 Splendor and majesty are before him;
    strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.

7 Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the peoples,
    ascribe to the Lord glory and strength!
8 Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;
    bring an offering, and come into his courts!
9 Worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness;
    tremble before him, all the earth!

10 Say among the nations, “The Lord reigns!
    Yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved;
    he will judge the peoples with equity.”

11 Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice;
    let the sea roar, and all that fills it;
12     let the field exult, and everything in it!
Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy
13     before the Lord, for he comes,
    for he comes to judge the earth.
He will judge the world in righteousness,
    and the peoples in his faithfulness.

I will admit, I am not always in mood for worship.  As a matter of fact, when I was younger I was way more interested in listening to a sermon or reading than singing.  Although I still like those things very much, my appreciation for singing praises has grown.  Don’t get me wrong, I love music (especially classic rock), my appreciation for singing to God has grown because my appreciation of God’s grace has grown.  Like many of you, I will sing in my car.  But whatever I’m singing in the name of rock ‘n roll pales in comparison to whatever I’m singing about to God.  Every once in a while, I sing a random song to my wife.  It is made up on the spot, half the time it makes very little sense, and we end up laughing at my goofiness.  Why do I do this?  I am by no means a Grammy level lyricist; but I do this because I love and appreciate her so much.  How much more appreciative should I be that I have been made a Son of the Almighty?

At times, I struggle to give.  Not necessarily money or things; but glory.  There are times I don’t seek to give God glory, even though I know that He is more than deserving of it.  I may have written this before, but I suffer from what I like to call spiritual amnesia.  I have seen God do great things, but I can get caught up in whatever life situation I am in and forget what He has done (especially in the hard times).  But not only does God deserve the glory, He deserves ALL OF THE GLORY!  One of the Five Solas of the Protestant Reformation is Soli Deo Gloria, glory to God alone.  Every good thing comes from God, anything good that comes out of me is only done through me and not from me.  For example, if a carpenter builds a beautiful deck, no one will give credit to the hammer.  Nor should they, if not used by the carpenter, the hammer would just sit there and do nothing productive.  God has chosen all of us to be His tools in His work.  As defective as we can be, He still makes something beautiful using us.

Do we wait for Jesus’s return?  Are we looking forward to the day when God and His creation are reconciled?  Even though we usually sing “Joy to the World” at Christmas time only, the point of the song is to celebrate the Second Coming.  In the New Testament, the Thessalonians were so eager for Christ’s return, that the waited for Him on the roof tops.  Although there is more than enough work to do in the present, we should be excited for His return.  There will be no sin, no death, and there will be perfect communion with Him.  It is said that the Kingdom of God is now and not yet; but it will truly be a great day when the not yet has come to pass.

I love you all,

Justin