{"id":388,"date":"2015-10-29T06:12:12","date_gmt":"2015-10-29T10:12:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/?p=388"},"modified":"2015-10-28T22:58:26","modified_gmt":"2015-10-29T02:58:26","slug":"a-crescendo-of-praise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/2015\/10\/a-crescendo-of-praise\/","title":{"rendered":"A Crescendo of Praise"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Crescendo<\/a><\/p>\n

The LORD reigns, let the earth rejoice;
\nlet the many coastlands be glad!
\n(Psalm 97:1)<\/p>\n

True worship is centered on God. We see this in Psalm 97 from the very first verse. We are to be glad and rejoice. Our God reigns! Our Lord is Sovereign over all. This knowledge should season every thought and flavor every prayer!<\/p>\n

Notice that Psalm 97 begins with praise. The psalmist lifts his voice with confidence and joy starting with the very first verse. Not all the psalms begin this way. Many open with cries of distress or sorrow. The psalmist is afflicted, persecuted, facing suffering or weighed down by trials. In these circumstances, as the psalmist pours out his heart before God, you will find petitions, prayers and laments. But as you read the psalms, you will also discover that the focus doesn\u2019t remain on the problems and difficulties and trials. Over and over throughout the psalms, the concern of the psalmist turns from his petitions and laments to God\u2019s glory and praise.<\/p>\n

Look, for example at Psalm 13. David begins the psalm in desperation:<\/p>\n

How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever?
\nHow long will you hide your face from me?
\nHow long must I take counsel in my soul
\nand have sorrow in my heart all the day?
\nHow long shall my enemy be exalted over me?
\nConsider and answer me, O LORD my God;
\nlight up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death,
\nlest my enemy say, \u201cI have prevailed over him,\u201d
\nlest my foes rejoice because I am shaken.
\n(Psalms 13:1-4)<\/p>\n

But then David turns his thoughts to God\u2019s love and there is a noticeable shift:<\/p>\n

But I have trusted in your steadfast love;
\nmy heart shall rejoice in your salvation.
\nI will sing to the LORD,
\nbecause he has dealt bountifully with me.
\n(Psalms 13:5-6)<\/p>\n

Do you see the change in David’s focus as the psalm begins compared to how the psalm ends? As he meditates and remembers the God to whom he is praying, his heart is turned from sorrow to praise!<\/p>\n

In fact, if you read through the entire book of Psalms, you will see a noticeable shift in its content. Early in the Psalter you find many petitions and laments, but as you grow closer to the end of the book, the petitions and laments grow fewer and fewer until from Psalm 145 to the end there is pure praise.\u00a0The Psalms culminate in a crescendo of praise that builds to the last verse (Psalm 150:6) and resounds in the final command: \u201clet everything that has breath praise the Lord!\u201d<\/p>\n

The Book of Psalms begins with a blessing. Psalm 1 tells us that we are blessed when we turn away from sin and evil, and we delight in the Law of God and meditate upon His Word day and night. Those who know God\u2014know His name, His character, His promises, His salvation\u2014those who delight in Him will be:<\/p>\n

\u2026 like a tree
\nplanted by streams of water
\nthat yields its fruit in its season,
\nand its leaf does not wither.
\nIn all that he does, he prospers.
\n(Psalms 1:3)<\/p>\n

The remainder of the Book of Psalms is a glorious testimony that this promise is true. In every distress and storm where the psalmist feared that he would wither or fall, when the psalmist looked to God and trusted in God and clung to God\u2019s revelation of His character and promises and will, when he was confident that God would accomplish His purposes, then his focus turned from petition and lament to praise and rejoicing.<\/p>\n

This is why Psalms is called in Hebrew a Book of Praises (Sepher Tehillium<\/em>).<\/p>\n

This has great implications for our worship today. If our desire is to have worship that honors God and enriches, encourages, and nourishes our souls, our greatest need to stop focusing on ourselves and remember God.<\/p>\n

Think of this when we gather together for worship on the Lord\u2019s Day. Think of this when we come together for prayer on Wednesday nights. As you voice your concerns and share your heart, honestly confess your difficulties and struggles, tell God your sorrows and troubles, but don\u2019t stay there! Look to God! Our God reigns! Let your words dwell upon Him!<\/p>\n

[This excerpt is from a sermon on Psalm 97 entitled “The God We Worship.” You can read the full sermon text here<\/a>.]<\/p>\n

More Sermons and Articles<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The LORD reigns, let the earth rejoice; let the many coastlands be glad! (Psalm 97:1) True worship is centered on God. We see this in Psalm 97 from the very first verse. We are to be glad and rejoice. Our God reigns! Our Lord is Sovereign over all. This knowledge should season every thought and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[49,6,53],"tags":[24,99,100,91,101],"class_list":["post-388","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-psalm","category-sermons","category-worship","tag-praise","tag-prayer","tag-psalm","tag-sovereignty","tag-worship"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4lLgO-6g","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=388"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":393,"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388\/revisions\/393"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}