Psalm 33:2-3
Praise the Lord with the harp; make music to him on the ten-stringed lyre. Sing to him a new song; play skilfully, and shout for joy.
Hands up anyone who's got their ten-stringed lyre out recently! I'm guessing that's none of us. I'd be surprised if we could even
muster a harp. Shall we just skim over these verses, then, and move onto the next bit?!
Of course not! After all, as we saw yesterday, it is 'fitting' to praise God. He is praise-worthy, so of course we, his people, should praise him. We probably don't often say 'I haven't got a lyre, so I
won't praise God.' Yet we might sometimes say something similar .... 'I don't really FEEL like praising God today. I haven't got the right emotions, so I won't praise God.' 'God really deserves me to spend half an hour praying and praising him and I've only got 2 minutes while I load the dishwasher. I haven't got the right
amount of time, so I won't praise God.' Yes, the psalmist tells us to sing 'skillfully' - God absolutely does deserve the best that we've got. It would be well worth looking for a way to find more than 2 minutes at some point if it’s in any way possible.
But better to give him the best of what we've actually got, right
now, rather than do nothing because of what we haven't got. If I don't have the 'right' emotions, better to praise him that he still hears me when I sob, rather than say nothing to him until I feel better. If I don't have the right time, better to praise him in 2 minutes, with fingers covered in crumbs, than say nothing to him until I have an uninterrupted half hour. After all, when the joy comes, or the half hour comes, we can praise him AGAIN then! But in the meantime, let's praise the Lord with whatever we've got.
During lockdown, at 8pm every Thursday many people
discovered that you can make quite a lot of enthusiastic noise with a voice, your hands, and perhaps a saucepan and a wooden spoon. If we can muster a weekly outburst of praise for 1000s of NHS staff and carers, most of whom we've never met, why wouldn't we want to raise an equally enthusiastic shout to the God who made us, loves us, saved us and sustains us?
So, let's grab whatever comes to hand, whether it's an instrument or a Spotify account, a lone voice, or a family banging spoons on
saucepans, and use it to praise God today.
