Raise your voice!
December 18, 2024 | Karen Barnes
About the author: Karen Barnes is a current Elder and 28-year member of ZPC. She is married to Clay, and they have three children, Gracie (husband Bryan), Christina, and Noah. The Barnes family loves Christmas and the joy, light, togetherness, and focus on Jesus it brings. Oh, and the Christmas cookies too … can’t forget that! But mostly Jesus!
1 Sing to the Lord a new song;
sing to the Lord, all the earth.
2 Sing to the Lord, praise his name;
proclaim his salvation day after day.
3 Declare his glory among the nations,
his marvelous deeds among all peoples.
4 For great is the Lord and most worthy of praise;
he is to be feared above all gods.
5 For all the gods of the nations are idols,
but the Lord made the heavens.
6 Splendor and majesty are before him;
strength and glory are in his sanctuary.
7 Ascribe to the Lord, all you families of nations,
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 his[a] holiness;
tremble before him, all the earth.
10 Say among the nations, “The Lord reigns.”
The world is firmly established, it cannot be moved;
he will judge the peoples with equity.
11 Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad;
let the sea resound, and all that is in it.
12 Let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them;
let all the trees of the forest sing for joy.
13 Let all creation rejoice before the Lord, for he comes,
he comes to judge the earth.
He will judge the world in righteousness
and the peoples in his faithfulness.
Psalm 96
Several years ago, my musically gifted brother had the “brilliant” idea to record a family album of Christmas songs. I really did not want to do this as singing is not my gift. In fact, while I wouldn’t go so far as to say I am tone deaf … some others in my family might. Long and short of it is, we were forced to participate, and the result was that Clay and I sang a duet, which will go down as perhaps one of the worst renditions of The Little Drummer Boy ever. So why choose to write a devotional about Psalm 96? Heaven only knows.
Actually, it is because I was drawn to the action words of this psalm. This passage exhorts its reader to sing, bless, praise, proclaim, declare, ascribe, worship, say, and rejoice to name a few. What do these words all have in common? These verbs all require the use of our voice, specifically here on behalf of the Lord. We are to look around us and recognize what God has done and who the Lord is. We are not to keep quiet about what we find but rather to verbally acknowledge his gifts and share them with others. Verse 3 states “Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples.” Does this remind anyone else of the Great Commission (Matthew 27:19-20)? In the Old Testament as well as the New, humans have always been part of God’s plan to spread his message of love throughout the Earth. The act of recognizing and sharing God’s glory verbally and visibly with others causes us to grow spiritually while it also expands God’s kingdom. Our God has designed this win-win scenario beautifully.
But what does this psalm ask us to share about the Lord? A few things pop out. We are asked to voice his salvation (v.2), his glory and his marvelous deeds (v.3), the splendor and majesty before him (v.6), the glory due his name (v.8), and the splendor of his holiness (v. 9). And one more thing, this psalm also proclaims the truth that God will come to judge (v. 10). Wait what? Is that supposed to be a reason to rejoice?
Yes! We rejoice because we know who the judge is. Israel had a long history of human judges and rulers and while some were notably better than others, there is no doubt that all fell short of the divine judge referenced here. Unlike human judges who can disappoint, act at times out of selfish ambition or partisanship, our Lord will judge quite differently. Our Lord through Jesus will come to judge the people with equity (v. 10), righteousness, and in his faithfulness (v. 13). In this psalm the heavens rejoice, the Earth is glad, the sea resounds (v. 11), the fields are jubilant and the trees of the forest sing for joy (v. 12) ALL because the Lord comes (v. 13) and assumes his rightful place as ruler over the whole world. Much like the Advent season, this is a psalm of joy and hopeful anticipation. It points us to the reign of our Savior Jesus and that is news worth shouting from the rooftops and sharing with your neighbor.
Activity
Find a way this season to share the Lord with someone one-on-one. Use your voice in any form to offer another a special touch of God’s love that hopefully ignites a fuller understanding of who he is. Share your personal faith journey in a Christmas card. Invite someone to coffee, to dinner, to a deeper conversation about Jesus. Bring a neighbor to church and let the beautiful music here do the talking for you. Go caroling at the house of someone you know who is lonely or hurting (just don’t invite me, remember singing is not my gift). Pray and ask God to show you how and where to spread his light just a little bit further in this weary world.
Prayer
Lord God, thank you for who you are, your character, your nature, your love. Thank you for sending Jesus to be our Savior and to rule and reign in our hearts as well as on Earth and in heaven. Lord, help us to use our voices to boldly share your son with this broken world that so desperately needs him. Prepare the hearts of those we reach out to with your good news and strengthen our faith and knowledge of you as we seek to share you.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.