"It's time to sing to god a brand-new song" Psalm 149:1-6 (TPT)

I have heard it said that “God is doing a new thing.” and that requires us to sing a new song that reflects that new thing so we are in lock-step and following the direction that God is going.  

Who are God’s holy people?  Anyone that would respond to the call of the gospel and would receive His message of love with gladness of heart, longing to be part of the Heavenly family declaring the wonder and majesty of the Lord. 

I have been utterly amazed at the sheer depth and breadth of worship songs which have been put out lately, the church used to be the primary venue for worship music, but the songs have broken through the church walls into the world to declare Jesus to a new generation through the secular media.  I find it fascinating and glorious at the same time that the Lord is using this medium as a means to communicate His message which only proves that God can always do more than we can ever ask or think.

“We are entrusted with the Joy of the Lord”, the passage says further “..may the sons of Zion pour out their Joyful praise to the King.”  The word ‘Zion’ holds an interesting background, it appears 108 times in the bible.  The etymology of the word Zion (ṣiyôn) is uncertain. Mentioned in the Old Testament in the Books of Samuel (2 Samuel 5:7) as the name of the Jebusite fortress conquered by David, its origin likely predates the Israelites. If Semitic, it may be derived from the Hebrew root ṣiyyôn meaning ("castle") A non-Semitic relationship to the Hurrian word šeya meaning ("river" or "brook") has also been suggested as also one of Hittite origin.

As a “son or daughter of Zion” and follower of Jesus we are aware of both meanings, the Lord is our fortress, our strong tower to defend us and protect us.  (Psalm 144:2 AMPC)  The Lord is also our river of living water flowing out from deep within us (John 7:38 TPT) because of the passage speaking of “pouring out joyful praise to their King", I believe that the word 'Zion' is referring more toward Jesus’ description in John 7:38.

King David dancing before the Lord

The passage also declares “break forth in dancing!”, Dancing before the Lord has become somewhat frowned upon by many religious denominations of the past due to the fact that it can be an unbridled form of worship.  Many traditional conservative denominational churches want order and control above anything else, it has only been in the past 10-15 years that dancing has been re-introduced back into the Evangelical Church as a form of worship and has taken on many forms, the one constant to the dance is "singing joyful praises to the King".

“Make music and sing God’s praises with the rhythm of drums!” 
Drums also have had a checkered past with the church, it was once considered by some churches that drums were tribally indigenous to African nations and not the “western" world and so should not be part of worship.  Many secular bands began to break free of that stereotype, like the Beatles for example, and others like them began to introduce music which had a drumbeat which was in rhythmic syncopation to the melody or utilized a backbeat which became popularized.  Christian musicians began picking up on this and realized that drums could be part of the rhythm and integral to the music and not considered 'tribal' but respectful and worshipful.  King David saw this plainly in his worship before the Lord.

“For He enjoys His faithful lovers” The Lord enjoys the praises of His people.  He not only puts His love in our hearts, but He puts the desire and the faith within us to love Him that we may desire Him alone.

“He adorns the humble with His beauty” The beauty of the Lord is encountering His presence, His beauty is beyond description even though Solomon tried to detail the beauty of the Lord in the book the Song of Solomon, it still falls short of capturing the fullness and majesty of who He is.

The Lord loves to give of Himself to those who are humble and praise Him for His victory.  It is the mercy of God expressed to us in Christ Jesus that we are given victory because He is worthy of our praise and honor.

“His godly lovers triumph in the glory of God, and their joyful praises will rise even while others sleep”.

Becoming aware that when you are awakened by the Lord and that He wants to spend time with you, your desire is increased to hear His voice and receive what He has for you each and every new day.

“God’s high and holy praises fill their mouths, for their shouted praises are their weapons of war!”  I have spoken recently about shouting praises before the Lord, high praise is on a different level, it is when we declare praise from a positional stance before the Lord as lovers and as His Sons and Daughters that our praise becomes our weapons of war against anything that is contrary to the purposes of God.

I really like this Psalm as it declares that we receive the might and power of the Lord as we humble ourselves and submit to Him. We are given His strength as His Sons and Daughters to wield the power of the Kingdom to bring proper change into our lives and the lives of others.

May you hear and sing that new song which has gone out into the world by His Spirit which is empowering and life-giving which declares His victory over all things.

Be Blessed;

Stephen Barnett