Oct-08-0529-Worshipping God with a new song
529_Worshipping God with a new song Psalm 96 Oh sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth! 2 Sing to the Lord, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day. 3 Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples! 4 For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; he is to be feared above all gods. 5 For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols, but the Lord made the heavens. 6 Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and beauty are in his sanctuary. 7 Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the peoples, 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 holiness; tremble before him, all the earth! 10 Say among the nations, “The Lord reigns! Yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved; he will judge the peoples with equity.” 11 Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; let the sea roar, and all that fills it; 12 let the field exult, and everything in it! Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy 13 before the Lord, for he comes, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness, and the peoples in his faithfulness. At one point George Frideric Handel, the great composer, was in despair. His health was failing, his finances were ruined, and he felt forgotten. One day, a friend handed him an opera script, composed entirely of Bible verses arranged to tell the story of the Messiah, Jesus Christ. As Handel read through it, his heart was deeply stirred. In just 24 days, he composed the entire masterpiece we now know as Messiah. When people praised him for it, he simply said, “I should be sorry if I only entertained them. I wished to make them better.” Psalm 96 calls us to worship God with a new song, not just to enjoy the melody but to remember and renew our experience of the living God. It speaks of worship not as a mechanical act, but a dynamic act flowing from our relationship with God. The psalm echoes the song of David when the ark of the covenant was brought into Jerusalem (1 Chronicles 16:23–33). It instructs and invites, not only Israel, but all the earth, to worship the Lord. The psalm begins: “Oh sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth! Sing to the Lord, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day.” The new song is not just an original composition. When God moves in our lives—when He rescues, forgives, strengthens, or comforts us—the natural response is praise. As Psalm 42:8 reminds us, “By day the Lord directs his love, by night his song is with me.” True worship begins with an encounter. It is not about how skillful our voices are, nor about how polished