Sing Praise to the Lord - Part I

It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to your name, O Most High; to declare your steadfast love in the morning, and your faithfulness by night…For you, O Lord, have made me glad by your work; at the works of your hands I sing for joy. ~ Psalm 92:1-4

We begin each Lord’s Day with a Call to Worship — a summons from Scripture that reminds us of God’s worth and our joyful privilege of worshiping Him. Immediately following this, we sing a Hymn or Psalm of Praise. This is our appropriate response to the God who calls us to worship Him.

Over the coming weeks we’re going to look briefly at the upcoming Hymn or Psalm of Praise. We won’t exhaust all that could be said about these songs; rather, our goal will be to offer an aid to worship — an opportunity to spend time on Friday or Saturday preparing your heart for worship. And what better way to prepare than to consider thoughtfully the words you will sing first in worship?

Our Hymn of Praise this week is “Come, Christians, Join to Sing.” I want to draw our attention to a few ideas from the first verse: “Come, Christians, join to sing Alleluia! Amen! Loud praise to Christ our King; Alleluia! Amen! Let all, with heart and voice, before His throne rejoice; praise is His gracious choice. Alleluia! Amen!” (Trinity Hymnal #302)

What you may not know is that the original title (and first line) of this song was “Come, Children, Join to Sing”! When we sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, we are inviting each other to join us in worship as we collectively affirm our shared faith in and love for God. And in this case, we are asking even our littlest children to join us in the worship of Almighty God! How sweet are the praises of little children to our Lord’s ears? Of course, we know this since He has prepared praise for the mouths of babes, according to Jesus in Matthew 21:16.

I also want us to consider what it means when we sing, “Praise is His gracious choice.” This is a wonderful line, which reminds us that it is a grace of God that we are even able to praise Him! It is not our right, but our privilege, to sing praises to the Lord. He is showing kindness to miserable sinners when He invites us into His holy presence, and even more, when He calls us to lift our voices in “loud praise to Christ our King.”

Lastly, let me encourage you to spend time contemplating the line, “Before His throne rejoice.” When we gather to sing, we join our hearts and our voices with the hosts of heaven — the angels above and the souls of just men and women made perfect — before the throne of God above. We are, in a very real sense, entering into the holy of holies in heaven by the new and living way that Jesus opened for us through the curtain, that is, through His flesh.

So this Lord’s Day, come with hearts prepared — young and old — to join in song to our Guide and Friend, because His love shall never end, and we will sing His praises forevermore.

Rev. Kyle Lockhart, Associate Pastor