January 7 - New Song

January 7 – New Song

Ps 96:1, “O sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth.”

Ps 98:1, “O sing to the LORD a new song, for he has done marvelous things. His right hand and his holy arm have gotten him victory.”

Ps 144:9, “I will sing a new song to you, O God; upon a ten-stringed harp I will play to you … “

Ps 149:1, “Praise the LORD! Sing to the LORD a new song, his praise in the assembly of the faithful. “

The call to sing a new song in the Psalms generally has to do with praise to God following a victory.  Whenever God stood with the Israelites and helped bring them to victory, the celebration would require a new song of praise.

This new song comes not from us, but from Him:

“He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the Lord.” (Psalm 40:3)

There are so many things that we believe we have to do to make God happy.  We have to obey Him, we have to praise Him, we have to teach people about Him, we have to confess our sins, we have to repent, we have to … we have to … we have to.

The truth of the matter is that He really does all the work.  We try so hard to make our walk with Him all about the struggles we have to go through, the hard work of being a Christian, the things we have to give up.  But, God is the one who puts that new song in our mouths, He is the one that fights our battles for us.  God is the creative power behind everything that we are.

Like the Israelites who just could not believe that God would really fight their battles for them and insisted on stepping out on their own, we refuse to really believe that every single thing we do during the day can be handled by Him.

Jesus said, “Come unto me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)

The victory has already been won … and if we pay attention, we don’t have to fight the battle.  Not only has God won the battles, but He places the new song in our hearts so that we can sing praise to Him … for He has done marvelous things!