"Let's have some worship before we start our study" often, in church-speak, means playing and singing a couple of songs. Of course, worship isn't confined to singing. Psalm 96 has a lot to say about worshiping God, and some of it is about singing--but there's
a lot more. I read this psalm a couple of days ago in my morning time with God, and was struck by several pieces in it. Let's look.
Verses 1-2 say "sing" three times. Great! But if you're not musical, don't worry -- verse 2 also says "proclaim the good news that he saves" and verse 3 follows, "Publish his glorious deeds among the nations" so no one is left out. Verses 4-6 tell us why: "he is most worthy of praise..to be feared above all gods...[they] are mere idols, but the Lord made the heavens...honor and majesty surround him." This is the same message Moses wrote in the book of Genesis, for the children of Israel as they left Egypt and began to find their national identity. The creation account shows this God who made the physical creation that the nations worship. The rest of the book shows a relational God who walks with his people and wants to be known. Hallelujah! What a great God we know!
The other nations are encouraged to "recognize the Lord...bring your offering and come into his courts" in verses 7 and 8. The nation of Israel was to be an example of God's grace and blessings to the "whole world" around them, but that was just a preview of what we, the expanded family of God, are privileged to do today.
"Let the heavens be glad, and the earth rejoice! Let the sea and everything in it shout his praise! Let the fields and their crops burst out with joy! Let the trees of the forest rustle with praise..." say verses 11 and 12. Does the creation literally have joy, or speak? In one sense, yes, because they show the enormous genius of the Creator just by showing up every day. But in another sense, no they don't -- so we have the privilege, every time we see or think about the beauty of Creation, of praising God for his gift of this beautiful earth and the universe!
One more question: do we have to create this praise by our own efforts, and hope it's good enough? Good news! Because we are "in Christ" as we are told throughout the New Testament, we get to join in his perfect love for the Father, by the invitation of the Holy Spirit. It's not up to us to manufacture praise: our praises, prayers, worship and offerings to God are all perfected by the eternal work of the eternally-incarnate Jesus Christ, who is forever in the presence of the Father for us (Mark 16:19, Romans 8:34). So we get all the help we need in praising God, directly through being included in Christ. That means if we sing a little off-key, or forget the words, or find music challenging and want to use some other method, it's all good anyway. The Father hears, the Spirit rejoices, and Jesus grins. I'm sure of it, whether your song is "new" or even if it's not a song.
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