At my church yesterday, we were looking at the story of Jehoshaphat and how in the face of an unwinnable battle, he placed the worshipers out in front of the army. What did those worshipers sing?
Give thanks to the Lord,
for his faithful love endures forever. (2 Chronicles 20:21)
I wonder if the song they were singing was actually Psalm 136?
At any rate, in choosing to worship, they remembered who God was and what he had done for them. And as a result, God brought about great victory.
I couldn’t help but think of that story as I read Psalm 81. For in it, Asaph tells us,
Sing for joy to God our strength;
shout in triumph to the God of Jacob.Lift up a song—play the tambourine,
the melodious lyre, and the harp. (Psalm 81:1-2)
And then he says,
For this is a statute for Israel,
an ordinance of the God of Jacob. (4)
In other words, God commanded the Israelites to worship.
In this case, Asaph was probably pointing to the Feast of Tabernacles when the people remembered their journeys in the desert after God had freed them from Egypt.
Why did God command the people to worship?
To help them keep their eyes on him.
To remember who he is, and what he had done for them.
So that they would trust him, living by every word that comes from his mouth, not turning away from him as their ancestors did again and again.
And why did their ancestors turn away? Because they forgot who God was and what he had done for them.
And so it made me think. How much is worship a part of my life? I used to do it a lot when I was younger, and then kind of got away from it for some reason.
Of course, worship is much more than just singing songs. But that doesn’t mean singing is not important.
God commands us to rejoice. To sing to him. And so that’s what I want to do more of going forward.
Lord, help me to sing and rejoice in you as you have commanded. Set my focus on you in the good times and the bad.
I rejoice, Lord, because you are good. And your faithful love endures forever. Amen.
Moment to Moment (Bible blog) 