Make a Joyful Noise

Psalm 100

Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth!
Serve the Lord with gladness!
Come into his presence with singing!

Know that the Lord, he is God!

It is he who made us, and we are his;

we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
and his courts with praise!

Give thanks to him; bless his name!

For the Lord is good;
his steadfast love endures forever,
and his faithfulness to all generations

We are called to praise the Lord. This includes singing. Sometimes, song will spontaneously burst forth from my mouth. In times of sorrow, or in times of feeling distant from the Lord, it can be difficult to sing. In those times, our joy in the Lord is seen when we tell our souls: “Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.” Psalm 43:5. Our joy in the Lord is not always reflected by outward emotional joy and sometimes emotions can bring forth insincere praises as we think about how great we feel rather than praising him our redemption.  True worshipers rejoice in the Lord in times of happiness and in times of sadness. When we truly rejoice in the Lord, we sing in times when we don’t feel like singing. (This also goes for when we read our Bibles and pray and don’t feel like it and when we attend church and don’t feel like it; etc.) We don’t listen to the flesh which says I don’t feel like it. We make a joyful noise because the Spirit of God is at work in us, enabling us to praise him and mortify the desires of our flesh. Love brings forth sincere praise, sometimes with emotional joy and spontaneous. Sometimes we praise the Lord with great effort and with an emotional dryness or deep sorrow due to manifold temptations and trials. Love has a sincere desire to praise the Lord for his mercies toward us and an unwillingness to quit rejoicing in him. Those that love the Lord, never cease to praise him. Yes, there are sinful moments in which we do not praise, and sin prevents us from praising as fully as we should but by grace, Christians say along with the psalmist in Psalm 146:2: “I will praise the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.” Please do beware that love does not command its soul to praise the Lord in order to earn his favor or out of a slavish fear. Also, praising the Lord infiltrates our life, and is not limited to singing praises unto him.

I  sometimes sing off key. I have been unable to figure out how to harmonize in singing, and I struggle with hitting the soprano notes; sometimes I’m even off key with the lower notes. I used to have very great fears of singing in front of others because of this. When I was fearing so much what they thought, it was hard to truly praise the Lord in song at church. I remember the first time I attended my church, my pastor prayed for God to help us to sing. I was not singing at all for fear of man. I wanted to sing but instead I did what I would rather not do and did not sing. The second time the pastor prayed, he again asked that God would help us to sing. I was also praying silently for help but struggled to trust in God’s strength to help me. Finally at the end of the service, I began to sing, very quietly and still fearful of others, but I began to sing. In the following weeks, I continued to sing, very softly and sometimes physically trembling from fear. Please note, I don’t want to imply that the volume of voice, indicates the amount of praise in the heart. I was singing softly for wrong reasons but singing softly in itself is not wrong. I still can struggle to some degree with thinking what others may think when I sing (and in other areas,) but I have learned now to command myself to praise him when I sing in public worship and think upon the words I am singing rather than think upon my voice. I used to think that when I go to heaven, I will sing to God with an improved voice and perfectly hit all the notes. Perhaps I will; perhaps I will not. I do not know what my glorified body will be like. I do know now, that when I go to heaven, I will sing with a heart that no longer sins. He will be glorified with my pure, adoring praise. As for now, he is glorified by the true worship in my heart though it is imperfect. The imperfections of my heart do not please him, but he is pleased to look upon Jesus and see me righteous in him. Because of the love of Jesus, bestowed upon me for his name’s sake, he is pleased to complete a good work in me and is pleased to one day bring me home to where I will worship him without sin hindering my worship (Philippians 1:6.)

A joyful noise does not have one specific sound and can include instruments. A joyful noise comes from a heart that is joyful in the Lord. When listening to and/or singing Christian music, we should make sure the theology of the lyrics is sound and we are worshiping God for his goodness and grace toward us, his wretched children-children of wrath by nature, made new in Christ (Ephesians 2:3-5.) We are children of a Holy God, loved with a love we can only begin to comprehend. Poor, broken children who are made whole and rich beyond measure in Christ. Among other Psalms and Christian songs, I enjoy the song "Jesus Loves Me" by Anna Warner. It helps me to sing this simple truth when I am discouraged and it reminds me that I am a little one; his little one. The song opens with: “Jesus loves me this I know for the Bible tells me so." My emotions and circumstances can at times tempt me to doubt God’s love. The Bible tells me that Almighty God humbled himself, died on a cross for my sins and rose again victoriously three days later. God’s word also tells me: “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28. By the power of the Holy Spirit, I am convinced that I am loved by God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

“Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.”  John 15:13

“For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person- though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die- but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. Romans 5:6-11.

Yes! Jesus loves me!

I opened with a Psalm, and would like to close with a Psalm. God is good. May our souls learn to praise him more and more.

Psalm 150

Praise the Lord!
Praise God in his sanctuary;

praise him in his mighty heavens!
Praise him for his mighty deeds;
praise him according to his excellent greatness!

Praise him with trumpet sound;

praise him with lute and harp!

Praise him with tambourine and dance;
praise him with strings and pipe!
Praise him with sounding cymbals;
praise him with loud clashing cymbals!
Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord!