Souls Singing Praise -

“Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.” Psalm 32:1,2

Indeed, all who are the Lord’s are counted blessed. All who keep covenant with God through faith do so because of His abundant mercy. This blessing is cause for great rejoicing; we declare the goodness of the Lord and His lovingkindness toward us. We should not keep silent. Holding back praise for our Heavenly Father should be a burden to His people. Verses 11 and 12 from Psalm 30 declare that the mercy shown to us and the rejoicing that is stirred within us should cause our souls to sing praise to God and not be silent. Jeremiah speaks of God’s Word being in his heart like a burning fire shut up in his bones; he was weary of holding it back and he could not. (20:9)

The psalmist goes on to write, “Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him.” (33:5) This is one of God’s revealed purposes for our singing His praises. When we declare to a watching world that our God is mighty and awesome and that He is a loving Father and a righteous Judge, all the earth should fear Him, all in the world should stand in awe. When we declare that Christ is King of Kings and Lord of Lords and that He is the Master to whom our allegiance is given, then those to whom the Lord has granted a new heart will be glad. We should pray that the Holy Spirit, who is ever-present before us, would be pleased to remove hearts of stone and cause the ears of our hearers to be opened that they may hear the good news and repent and believe.

Timidity on our part is a reflection of our sinful fear of men. We ought to be humble before God but bold before men. Instead we pray before God (or write in our blogs) as if we are brave soldiers ready to take up the Sword and pierce hearts for God, then meekly, if at all, mention our faith before others.

May our Heavenly Father forgive us when our rejoicing is in prayer and thought only, and not also in word and deeds so that all might be called to bow the knee to Christ.