1 Praise the LORD! Sing to the LORD a new song, And His
praise in the assembly of saints.
2 Let Israel rejoice in their Maker; Let the children of
Zion be joyful in their King.
3 Let them praise His name with the dance; Let them sing
praises to Him with the timbrel and harp.
4 For the LORD takes pleasure in His people; He will
beautify the humble with salvation.
Psalm 149 is one of the five “Hallelujah Psalms” that
concludes the Book of Psalms. It is a psalm that reminds us that we are created
to worship the true and living God rather than the gods of this world. God
created us to glorify Him! There can be no true joy, fulfillment, completeness
without fulfilling the purpose for which we were made.
Verses 1-2 tell us that we must worship the Lord intelligently.
We rejoice and are joyful in our Maker and King! Yes, we can be grateful and
thankful for all the blessings that our great and good God has bestowed upon
us, but we must be careful that we don’t begin worshiping the blessings rather
than the Blesser! God alone is Good, and “every good gift and every perfect
gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights with whom there is
no variableness, neither shadow of turning” (James 1:17).
In verses 3-4, we learn that our worship should be accompanied
with spiritual fervency and with enthusiasm. The Jews were a very expressive
people. They used musical instruments,
songs, and dances in their worship of the Lord. The dances, of course, were not
modern ballroom or disco dances but rather interpretive dances that pointed to
the Lord and not some person's talent (see Ex. 15:20; Judges 11:34; 1 Sam.
18:6; Jer. 31:4).
We find no evidence that the New Testament church patterned
its worship after the Jewish temple. Their pattern seems to have been the local
synagogue worship, with its emphasis on prayer, the reading of the Word,
exposition and exhortation, and singing hymns. However, spiritual fervency must
not be confused with fleshly enthusiasm. There are false worshipers as well as
true worshipers (John 4:22-24; Col. 2:16-23), and some people who think they
are filled with the Spirit are really being fooled by the spirits.
Bringing false fire into the sanctuary can lead to death
(Lev. 10:1-11). Our purpose is not to please ourselves or to demonstrate how
"spiritual" we are. Our purpose is to delight the Lord (147:11), and
humility is one virtue that brings Him great joy (Isa. 66:1-2). The Lord gives
spiritual beauty to those whose worship brings Him delight.
“For the LORD takes pleasure in His people; He will
beautify the humble with salvation” (v. 4), reminds me of one of
David’s psalms where he wrote, “Good and upright is the LORD; Therefore He
teaches sinners in the way. The humble He guides in justice, And the humble He
teaches His way” (Psalm 25:8-9). True worship of the Lord will be an expression
of our humility not of our pride! Worship ought to be beautiful, for we are
beholding the beauty of the Lord (27:4; 29:2; 90:17; 96:9) and becoming more
like the Lord (2 Cor. 3:18).
It is sad that much of our so-called worship services in
our churches today is no more than fleshly entertainment that glorifies talent
and people rather than the Lord Jesus! Romans 8:5-8 reminds us that “Those
who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but
those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be
carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God;
for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who
are in the flesh cannot please God.”
Worship must focus on God, not on us, and it must be
enrichment, not entertainment. The experience of true worship can help us
experience deliverance from the bondage of sin and the world.
God bless!
