Playlist: Happy Songs — Tuesday
Psalm 100:1-2
Shout with joy to the Lord, all the earth! Worship the Lord with gladness. Come before him, singing with joy. (NLT)
I give my mother full credit for the effort she gave, not to mention the expense, to provide piano lessons for me as I was growing up. Ultimately, my impatience and laziness won out over the value of practice. Over time, the one thing I was willing to work on musically was singing. It started with being asked to join a student choir here at Southland. It was an early version of what became His Choir. From there, I sang a solo or two, mostly for Sunday night services. Yes, I was part of the B-Team of vocalists! Some years later, a pastor starting a new church locally heard me sing and invited me to apply for a part-time worship leading role at the church. I ended up being the worship leader at that church for almost twenty years. Some of my most meaningful ministry moments were standing before an auditorium of worshipers helping them express gratitude to our faithful Father.
Psalm 100:1-2 offers a clear directive to Jewish worshipers and, by extension, to us. We’re instructed to shout joyfully to the Lord. This was strong language inviting the worshipers to hold nothing back in declaring joy-filled gratitude to God. All the earth is invited to sing, which is a clue that God’s love and grace extends beyond the Jews to all who are willing to receive. Worship the Lord with gladness. The word for “worship” here isn’t just about repeating words and singing melodies. True worship, as the word is understood in the Hebrew form, is an act of service and will lead to acts of service in the name of the Father, both of which flow from a pure heart. To come before him, singing with joy is all about our proximity to the Father in worship. We are to approach Him because worship at its core is about our relationship with Him.
Tuesday’s Reflection
Have you become indifferent to the time during our service with music and singing? Do you see those moments as just killing time to get to the message? Give some thought today about how you might approach worship differently this Sunday. Ask the Father to help you engage worship with gratitude.
