Clap your hands, all you nations; shout to God with cries of joy. For the Lord Most High is awesome, the great King over all the earth. – Psalm 47:1-2
Each week as we gather for worship, it is typical for us to hear words like those from this Psalm in the beginning of our gathering. It is a call of encouragement to us. It is a call to remember who we are considering to be our Father. It is a call to worship.
When we read the words of the Psalmist, there may be a hint of hesitation. Perhaps a doubt comes with the exhortation. Clap my hands? Shout with joy to God? Who does that? Surely these are words describing fanatics. This call to worship is for those people whom God has delivered from great iniquity. This urging is perhaps better fit for those other people who feel they might have a little extra to prove to our Father in Heaven.
It’s true! These words of exhortation do apply to all “those” people. That’s because this call to worship, and many more found throughout the Bible, apply to every single believer in all the world. Our excited and passionate worship is not based upon our feelings, our circumstances, or what we consider to be good blessings found in our lives. When we look at the second verse of this scripture, we can easily identify that our worship is first and foremost in response to the awesomeness of our God and the authority that He rightly deserves in our lives.
It is also true that in His awesomeness we find so many blessings, changed lives, and good things that happen because of His love for us. But simply recognizing who He is, and by extension who we are, is enough for us to be filled with excited and passionate worship.
In our current circumstances, I hope and pray that our worship is as passionate as ever. I hope that any attempt from the enemy to squelch the praises of the people will only cause a brighter fire to burn in our hearts. So, I join the Psalmist in giving out a call to all reading these words. Clap your hands! Shout to God with cries of joy! Continually lift up the name of Jesus Christ our Savior. Even with our fellowship currently hindered, we shall persist in our worship being as passionate as ever!
I love and miss all of you.
Pastor David
