Psalm 98:1-9

God is worthy of our praise.  We are called to use every means at our disposal to praise the Lord.  If we can sing, we should sing praises to the Lord.  If we can plan an instrument we should play for the Lord.  We can even just clap our hands for joy as a means of praising Him.  The point is that we should be using everything at our disposal to praise the Lord.  We should dedicate ourselves to developing our abilities to praise the Lord.  Too often we use our skills in order to promote our own praise instead of using them to praise the Lord.  We have innumerable reasons to praise the Lord but this Psalm points to two specific reasons.

WE SHOULD PRAISE THE LORD FOR HIS FAITHFULNESS TO SAVE: God’s salvation is truly a marvelous blessing that should motivate us to praise the Lord with a new song.  The fact that God has revealed Himself to us and all of the nations and that He has been faithful to keep His promises to the nation of Israel should constantly encourage us to praise the Lord.  It is easy for us to take the blessing of God’s salvation and faithfulness for granted, but these blessings should be the motivating factor behind our praise.  God’s goodness to us should cause songs of praise to flow from our mouths and hands as we admire the greatness of His person and work.


WE SHOULD PRAISE THE LORD FOR HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS TO JUDGE: All of creation is under the curse of sin.  As a result of that curse, there is constant injustice and suffering on the earth.  However, the reality of living under the curse of sin is a very temporary one.  God has promised that He will judge this earth and that the sins of men will be brought to justice.  The fact that God is a just and righteous judge should fill our hearts with hope and joy and propel our praise of His greatness.  All of nature joins in the praise of the Lord because it too eagerly awaits for the curse of sin to be lifted by the righteous judgment of God.

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