Shout for joy in the Lord, you righteous!
When I think of a shout, there seems to be a difference between what I do with a psalm and what the psalmist was envisioning… We do not have a place in our worship service where we shout. We sing loudly, but we do not shout. We sing about shouting, but we do not shout. The psalmist regards this as a fitting expression for the upright, for the righteous, to shout for joy.
And it is not a private instruction, either. He speaks to us as a gathered group; the righteous, together in the presence of the Lord at his temple. There is music present, and good musicians, and they are praising Yahweh as well in their playing. They are to play skillfully on their strings, and to lead the crowd in loud shouts while they are doing it.
Hmmm. How do they do this?
I would love to see the psalmist in action.
And it is not just the psalmist saying this. The psalmist writes in the voice of the Messiah. These are the songs of our Lord Jesus. He seems to like having his people shout for joy to God. He said so in Psalm 32, too.
I cannot recall a lot of places in the psalms where the contents of a gathered assembly of Israel are revealed. There is loud and skillful music here, and similar things in other passages, but most other references are less clear.
In Psalm 40 there is the telling to others of God’s deliverances (40:9); there is an assembly in Psalm 7, people gathered for God to judge. People gather to offer sacrifices in Psalm 20. There is telling of God’s wonders and performing vows in Psalm 22. There are processions for festival days (Psalm 42:4). Sing praises! Clap! Shout! (Psalm 47). There are processions into the temple in Psalm 68, with the tribes present. Bring instruments! Sing! (Psalm 92). Worship! Kneel! (Psalm 95). Come into his presence with singing! (Psalm 100). Praise the Lord with dancing, making melody to him with the harp and the lyre (Psalm 149).
If the psalms are any indication, a lot of singing and playing and vigour is going on in the gathered assembly in David’s day. Testimonials are offered, but preaching is nowhere to be seen here. That shows up as a feature in the New Testament. There are sacrifices and vows performed, but no Lord’s Supper. This becomes central in the New Testament scriptures, after the Messiah has come.
The Church of Jesus Christ has developed a fairly consistent liturgy over the course of her history, such that if you follow it, you will find yourself worshipping in similar fashion to the vast majority of folk in church history. We follow a dialogical approach; God speaks, we respond, God speaks, we respond. We deal with confession of sin before we hear the Word, and we hear the Word before we come to the fellowship meal. But I wonder who decided that shouting was unacceptable? :-)
By all means, sing Psalm 33. And if your liturgy can find a place for it, shout for joy.
Here are the lyrics.
The Steadfast Love of the Lord
33 Shout for joy in the Lord, O you righteous! Praise befits the upright.
2 Give thanks to the Lord with the lyre;
make melody to him with the harp of ten strings!
3 Sing to him a new song; play skillfully on the strings, with loud shouts.
4 For the word of the Lord is upright, and all his work is done in faithfulness.
5 He loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord.
6 By the word of the Lord the heavens were made,
and by the breath of his mouth all their host.
7 He gathers the waters of the sea as a heap; he puts the deeps in storehouses.
8 Let all the earth fear the Lord;
let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him!
9 For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm.
10 The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing;
he frustrates the plans of the peoples.
11 The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations.
12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord,
the people whom he has chosen as his heritage!
13 The Lord looks down from heaven; he sees all the children of man;
14 from where he sits enthroned he looks out on all the inhabitants of the earth,
15 he who fashions the hearts of them all and observes all their deeds.
16 The king is not saved by his great army;
a warrior is not delivered by his great strength.
17 The war horse is a false hope for salvation, and by its great might it cannot rescue.
18 Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him,
on those who hope in his steadfast love,
19 that he may deliver their soul from death and keep them alive in famine.
20 Our soul waits for the Lord; he is our help and our shield.
21 For our heart is glad in him, because we trust in his holy name.
22 Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us, even as we hope in you.
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