Saturday, August 30, 2008

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Make a Joyful Noise

"Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands.  Serve the LORD with gladness:  come before his presence with singing.  Know ye that the LORD he is God:  it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.  Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise:  be thankful unto him, and bless his name.  For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations" (Psalm 100 KJV).

This Psalm is entitled a Psalm of praise and is and encouragement to us to praise the Lord.  We are told to make a joyful noise to him here and in a good number of other Psalms as well.  At times we are told to sing to the Lord, to sing new songs to him.  We are to use our voices and every instrument available from drums to strings to trumpets.  We are told to make a loud noise in some of the other Psalms and the more modern versions translated Psalm 100 as "shout to the LORD."

What I find very interesting is the common word through all of this is the word "noise."  Yes, you heard it right.  God is not necessarily asking for quality or beauty, though those things can certainly have their place.  God appears to want banging and shouting and whooping it up when we worship him.  And not only does he want noise, he wants us to worship him with our whole body as well.  Dancing, kneeling, raising hands, clapping, and more are things that the Bible's book of praise — the Psalms — encourages us to do in honor of the God that we love and serve.  Psalm 98 would seem to suggest that when we let loose with that kind of praise, all of creation will join in with us!  And it would appear that this kind of worship is encouraged anywhere and anytime too!

"Praise ye the LORD.  Praise God in his sanctuary;  praise him in the firmament of his power.  Praise him for his mighty acts;  praise him according to his excellent greatness.  Praise him with the sound of the trumpet:  praise him with the psaltery and harp.  Praise him with the timbrel and dance:  praise him with stringed instruments and organs.  Praise him upon the loud cymbals:  praise him upon the high sounding cymbals.  Let everything that hath breath praise the LORD.  Praise ye the LORD" (Psalm 150 KJV).

These are only a couple of the Psalms that tell us to praise the Lord.  And it would appear that almost any way that we can imagine to praise him is acceptable and encouraged.  Praise pleases God.  It is for him and to him.  It is what he deserves.  And even though we might think that what we are doing is not good enough, he receives it with gratitude.  And says, more, give me more!  Whatever you have.  Did you know that God is actually enthroned in our praises? (Psalm 22:3).

So, don't worry about whether you can sing or not.  Don't worry about how good you are on a particular instrument or not.  God simply invites and encourages us to make some noise.  Shout.  Bang.  Dance.  Sing.  Make up the music.  Make up the words.  We are after all supposed to sing a new song (Psalm 98:1).  How much newer could it get?  Now, if you don't feel all that confident subjecting your fellow worshipers to this raw and uncensored worship of God, do it alone.  In your house when nobody else is home.  Just you and the Lord.  Sing your guts out to him.  Enter his courts.  Feel his presence.  Or maybe sing to the CD player in your car at the top of your lungs.  So what if others look at you strange.  God is smiling.

Come on people.  God has invited us to make some noise!  And he could seemingly care less about the quality of the music being made, he is listening only to the heart and soul of the worshiper! 

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