Sing praises to God, sing praises!

.... Sing praises to our King, sing praises (Psalm 47:6). As I was meditating on this Psalm this morning, the Lord reminded me of an incident in Hong Kong in the summer of 2019. There were widespread demonstrations against the Chinese government's now aborted extradition bill. It would have allowed extradition, to mainland China. At times there were 2 million demonstrators, and  violence and arrests. In June Christians started turning up at protests singing  'Sing Hallelujah to the Lord.'  It was reported that “Once they started singing, everyone became calm."  That particular song is very interesting to me,  since it was that song that first fully brought home to me the difference between singing songs,  and praising the Lord. It was in a church in Vancouver in the summer of 1977. I had known the Lord for several years at that time, but I had never before felt the presence of the Lord so strongly in Church.  It underlined for me the truth that “the Lord inhabits the praises of His people” (Psalm 22:3).  

There was, as I say, a strong sense of the Lord's presence. It is when we truly praise Him that He shows up.  He is always there of course, because He has told us He will never leave us nor forsake us. But there are times when we feel His presence more than others. To put it slightly differently,  He does not manifest His presence when we merely sing songs, even spiritual ones.  And it's not about how good is the  performance! When all else is right, those who admit they cannot sing, are at no disadvantage, for a joyful noise is music to the Father's ears (Psalm 100:1). So what else needs to be right? Well, Jesus told us that the Father seeks worshippers who will worship Him in spirit and in truth (John 4:23).

But what does that mean? Well for a start,  I cannot imagine the Christians in Hong Kong getting into that very dangerous place between the rioters and the police with unconfessed sin in their lives!They would certainly be walking (living) in the truth of God's Word (3 John 3, 4). It's about obedience, about walking in the light as He is in the light,  and about being at peace with one another (1 John 1:7; Ephesians 4:3).  But what about “in spirit?”  In Christ our spirit is made alive (Ephesians 2:1), and then His Spirit witnesses with our spirit that we are children of God (Romans 8:16).  We are body,  soul and spirit, but really to worship Him in spirit is to worship Him with all we are and have.  Paul admonishes us to “be filled with the Spirit speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord” (Ephesian 5:18, 19). So another part of what it means,  is that we are to worship Him with all of our heart, mind, soul and strength!

Father, I confess to You this morning that I do not always feel like worshipping You at all, never mind in spirit and truth. But the song comes to mind “As our hearts begin to worship, we'll be glad because we came.”  In fact Lord when we worship when we don't feel like it, this is precious to You. Thank You Lord. It's not pretending, it is practicing,  and being obedient. Continue to draw us Lord,  and when we come in worship please bring us into Your awesome presence in Jesus Name Amen