I’d like to share a few thoughts about Psalm 149, focusing particularly on the very first phrase in that psalm… “Praise ye the Lord. Sing unto the Lord a new song…” (KJV).
This amounts to only the first half of that first verse, but there is something to consider in the small fragment that we have already read. The application I would like to make or at least have us consider today is what does this mean in terms of the way we worship God either individually or when we gather?
First, I’d like to ask each one of you to think of a person close to you, one whom you hold very dear… One, hopefully, to whom you have said the words “I love you“ many, many times.
Now that you have that person in your mind and heart, whether you physically write this down or just go through it in your mind, try to imagine how many different ways you either are able to or have said “I love you“.
“I adore you”, “I cherish you“, “there’s no one more important in the world to me than you“, “I couldn’t possibly do without you“, “you give my life meaning”… perhaps your list contains statements such as these.
After you’ve had some time to either write it down or think about it, do a rough count. While some of us may initially say that we know of countless ways to tell someone that we love them, is that what your list reflects? Or, like many perhaps, are you surprised that the list seems relatively brief?
I don’t bring this up to engender guilt, or feelings of inadequacy… I’m sure all of us do our best to communicate “I love you” and as many different ways as we are able throughout our lives as our relationship with the one whom we hold dear continues. But when it comes right down to it, there may be limited ways to say that.
Now put yourself on the other side, on the receiving end, if you will, of that statement “I love you“. I’d like to believe, and I do, that the recipient of that message is grateful to hear it and likely feels the same way. However, what if a metric, a measurement of the value of your statement is put in place equating how much you mean it with how original or new or unspoken the words you have just used are? In effect… How much you love a person is measured by how many different kinds of ways you can think of to say it. If this were the case, all of us would likely feel inadequate, not only to express our love for that other person, but we may also be doubtful if they have received the words we’ve shared sincerely and gratefully.
To put a more concrete frame around this… For you husbands…how many times have you said “I love you” to your wife? Perhaps daily? Have you ever encountered a time when you’ve spoken those words and your wife, upon hearing them, crosses her arms and looks at you rather sternly and says “you said that to me yesterday, and because you’re saying the same thing to me again today, I don’t believe you.“ And she storms off, leaving you at a loss as to what to do next.
Truly, I am hoping that never happens… It is just an example of what I’m talking about. Is the message “I love you“, and what it means, based on how original or unique you turn that phrase to make it a little bit different every time you say it? Again, my hope that the phrase “I love you“ stands on its own as we speak it in a convicted way with a sincere heart to that person whom we hold so dear.
I bring all of this up because I have heard some use this phrase that’s at the very beginning of psalm 149… “Sing a new song” as a reason or motivation or justification for literally trying to find a different way to tell God we love him by choosing a different song, choosing a new song, choosing a song that has not been sung before. Certainly there’s nothing wrong with us expanding the repertoire of songs that we sing as we are assembled together or even songs we sing in our own heart to God every day. Some of them we have sung many many times, others we struggle with because they are unfamiliar. There is a time in place for learning and growing in our knowledge of a new song and then being able to share it, but it does become difficult when we are in a worship service and the song is either new or unfamiliar to the point where we are so concentrated on the notes or the tune or the melody or the rhythm that suddenly we aren’t even truly aware of what it is, we’re saying.
I’d like to offer that this is the time we should not be singing a new song. God wants to receive a clear and sincere message of “I love you“ as we sing to him in prayer and praise in the same way that a husband or wife or friend or parent wants to hear us say “I love you” in a way that is connected and pure and true and simple and clear.
With the right kind of heart, we can say “I love you” to the same person at the same time in the same way every day and be confident that because we are speaking in that moment from our hearts as we look into their eyes that our message of love is gratefully received.
What makes a song new then is not because it has new notes or new words or anything like that… It is new because we renew it in our hearts as we share it together to our loving Father.
I don’t truly intend this to be a commentary on the songs that we sing in the assembly… It’s just an example that I hope help helps us to speak with understanding, to pray with understanding, to just say “I love you“ with understanding every opportunity we may have to do so.