♪ SING OUT ♫

I wrote a song back in the nineties for a children’s play that I penned for a holiday presentation that declared:

♪ “He put a new song right into my heart,

 It’s a song of praise to Jesus

 Just like the shepherds sang when they saw the King,

 It’s a song of praise to Jesus!”

Halelu……jah, Hallelujah to the King,

Hallelu.…..jah, Oh we praise the newborn King!” ♫

Over the years and many Christmases and play presentations later, that song and certain lines from the play have become a regular part of our family’s Christmas celebration traditions.  There is a line in the play where the main characters gleefully shout: “Tomorrow’s Christmas day, and you know what that means… Presents in the morning!”  Well, with our family currently spread between California, Oklahoma and North Carolina over the last few years, I can always depend on one of the siblings sending out a group family text on Christmas Eve with that familiar line, which in turn opens up a long thread of communication of Christmas cheer between all of us!

I thought of that particular song this morning as I continued with my study of Psalm 100.  Verse four in the King James Version encourages us to “Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise.”  Many of the modern translations tell us to enter in with ‘songs’ of thanksgiving and praise, which is exactly the way the original Hebrew implies that the actions ‘thanksgiving’ and ‘praise’ should be presented.  That revelation got me to realize that we are not to just come into His presence with dry or empty words but with actual ‘songs’ of heartfelt thanksgiving and praise!  Our desire to come into His presence should be such a joy-filled and exciting event that we can’t help but sing our way in the door! 

In Psalm 69:30 the writer declares that “I want to praise the name of God with a ‘song’ of praise.” (God’s Word ©)  I am sure that for the musician David, singing unto the Lord was a natural way of expression for him.  I was thinking this morning that Piper’s and my relationship was filled with music from the very get-go!  We were both raised in musical families where singing around the piano was not an uncommon activity. 

I was in a secular rock band when we met and played the guitar while Piper was classically trained on the piano (and continued lessons into her Junior College years when she also took organ lessons – I have fond memories of going to meet her after her individual lessons in one of the practice rooms in the old, musty music building!) Piper also played flute and piccolo in the high school band and then gave all of our kid’s piano lessons… which they still play today!

So… to come into His presence in song is quite natural for us as well.  But let me say… that while a certain familiarity with music is helpful, it should not be the driving factor for songs of praise.  The heart of a worshipper should be ignited into songs of praise and thanksgiving by their close, personal and intimate relationship with the Lord!  Psalm 100:3 gives us the key premise to the workings of this Psalm… and most likely for all the Psalms as well.  It states that we are to: “Know ye that the LORD he is God…” (KJV)  The word “know” is that word in the Greek that we’ve all come to know and love (if you are a regular reader of this blog) “ginosko” which implies a close, personal and intimate relationship with the Lord.  It is the “Jewish idiom for sexual intercourse between a man and a woman.” (Thayer’s)

As I meditated on this point yesterday I felt the Lord saying down in my spirit that “I should know Him just as I know my wife of 42 years… intimately, closely and with a loving knowledge of her innermost thoughts, needs and desires… and with ZERO doubt in my mind concerning the extent of her love for me!”

That natural kind of love between us is the driving factor for me to do ANYTHING for her.  It is also the kind of love that should automatically drive us to come into the Lord’s presence with heartfelt songs of thanksgiving and praise.  And you know… it doesn’t matter if you have a beautiful voice or can’t carry a tune in a bucket.  David makes that extremely clear when he began Psalm 100 with the encouragement to “Make a joyful noise unto the LORD…” (KJV)

My Mom used to joke about her close friend Norma who knew she couldn’t hold a note but sang to her heart’s content when singing hymns in church!  She always figured that her off-key rendition would just get lost amongst the other worshippers in the service!  I believe that God is more interested in the heart of the worshipper than the tone!

So what do you think?  Are you going to enter His presence with ‘songs’ of worship?  I think that it would make Him very happy and bless you as well!  Go ahead… give it a try! 

Have a wonderful weekend, and as you do, keep asking yourself… “Am I expecting to enter His gates and His courts with heartfelt ‘songs’ of thanksgiving and praise today?”