make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth; break forth into joyous song and sing praises! [psalm 98:4]
the heart of this psalm is that all of creation should joyfully praise and worship God as king of the universe because of his marvelous works and salvation.
maybe it’s been a while since you’ve made a joyful noise to the Lord or worshiped in joyous song on your own. there are definitely seasons of my life that have been that way. what’s unbelievable is that we serve the God of the universe who is worthy of all honor and praise, yet extends grace even when we don’t worship. even when we get caught up in our own lives and the world around us, he is patient and kind to draw us back to worship him.
this psalm implies that a big part of naturally being drawn to worship is that we recognize God’s move in our lives and in the world around us.
in the old testament, the israelites built alters of stone or “ebenezers” (meaning “stone of help”) to remind themselves of how they had seen God move. they were drawn to remembrance and worship every time they passed by or looked at the alter.
today, write down the 3 ways you’ve seen God move most recently. if you can’t think of 3, just write down 1 or 2. and if you can’t think of any, that’s ok, too. grace upon grace, there’s no need to make one up. this is an opportunity to take that to the Lord, to ask him to help you recognize his move.
just like how you can recognize a friends voice who you’ve spend a lot of time around, the more time you spend with God, the more you’ll recognize his move, his voice, and his prompting.
so today, whether you’ve been joyfully worshiping daily, or it’s been a few days, months, or years… may we call to mind the marvelous works of God and our own salvation and be drawn to worship the king again!
~ john sandman