O Sing to the Lord
Following along with the corporate devotional, today’s letter reflects on Psalm 96-100. These verses are beautifully lyrical and filled with praises. They show that as praises to God ring out from the lips of his people, so the very created order joins to shout out in worship too. I was reminded of this same pattern articulated in Isaiah 55, where as the Word of God is declared, as His gospel is proclaimed and cherished among the nations, forests flourish where there were once only briers—and their trees clap their hands.
I think of stopping for a breath on the mountain while skiing, surrounded by silence as the snow muffles all sound. All of a sudden a wind comes, causing the tall skinny pines to sway, clapping their sparse branches--music and life where there was none.
Just as the trees are stirred to song where there was only silence, we too, though we live in a world hellbent against worshiping the Creator God, we the redeemed have the joy of joining creation in raising up our voices to magnify the Maker.
Why is our Lord deserving of such praise? These psalms list many reasons: for God is great, filled with all splendor and majesty, strength and beauty, for he reigns, for he is mighty and just. We praise the Lord because he has made known his salvation, through his son Jesus—his right hand and holy arm (98:1).
Many have said that Sundays are a mini Easter. Absolutely! And in so much as it is, each Lord’s Day becomes an opportunity to taste God’s new creation—already and not yet—and to display that before a watching world.
As I get ready to leave Michigan and head back for Japan in July, I am reminded of how different these two places are. Japan does not have tulip time, mild summers, apple orchards with cider and donuts, or the Great Lakes. But it does have sakura (cherry blossoms), delicious food, and rich history & culture—all signs of God’s common grace. Oh do I, as do all Japanese Christians, long for the day when the name of the Lord would be praised by the masses in Japan in concert with her creation! Until then, we wait, and we praise God with thanks for how He is indeed at work in our midst.
Photo by Casey Horner on Unsplash