Psalm 96
Part of a series on the Psalms, Songs of Experience.
This week: Joy
Please note: this is a recording from our Sunday service currently meeting on Zoom, as well as socially distanced in church. Everyone is welcome to join us, for Zoom details see our home page.
—
Transcript
We’re going through a series in the Psalms looking at various emotions, and this week, we’re looking at the subject of joy.
I looked up the definition in the Collins dictionary: Joy: a feeling of great happiness… but that seems inadequate to me; joy is one of the most wonderful experiences, as well as happiness, it brings a sense of peace, a comfort, wellbeing…
I wonder how you’d respond if I asked you what brings you joy – maybe seeing friends, enjoying live music/theatre, good food…
I think I experience most joy when my football team West Ham are winning games – which unfortunately is not very often.
Maybe you too feel that your experience of joy is pretty infrequently?
If I’m honest my more common emotions are stress, irritability and anxiety… but I would love to experience joy more.
Well, I hope as we look at this Psalm, we’ll see where to find joy… and a joy that is better, more reliable, and more sustained.
This is an unusual Psalm as it comes up twice in the Bible, once here in Psalm 96, and then again virtually word for word in 1 Chronicles 16, and that’s useful because it gives us the context - we know that it was written by King David as he and the people of Israel witness the Ark of the Covenant being brought into Jerusalem for the first time.
The Ark was made in Moses time, and contained a few sacred objects, including the tablets of stone which had the 10 commandments on them. The Ark was the physical symbol of God’s presence with his people. They’d brought it with them through the desert. It had to be carried with huge care/respect, and was housed in a tent (the tabernacle) to set it apart from the people. It was carried on poles, and couldn’t be touched (one account of Uzzah touching it when the oxen stumbled and he died as a result). But God’s power was seen through it, for instance the River Jordan dried up and formed a passage as the people approached it…
We saw a modern day vision of this in Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark:- the Nazi Germans wanted the ark, as they believed its presence with them would give their armies invincibility, but found it and tried to open it – they all burnt up under the weight of God’s holiness
So you can imagine what a huge moment this is for David and the rest of God’s people as they witness it after all their travels, that it finally enters its permanent home in the city of Jerusalem.
This is a Psalm of great rejoicing and praise to God.
You’ll see in v.1-2: David repeats the word ‘sing’ 3 times, ‘sing to the Lord a new song’, ‘sing to the Lord all the Earth’, ‘Sing to the Lord, praise his name’. and then in v.6-7: the word ‘ascribe’ 3 times. Ascribe means ‘give unto’, and it’s saying here give unto God – glory
So these vs are a call to God’s people to sing praises to their God, to rejoice and give Him glory.
I’ve got 3 headings: the source of joy, the result of joy and the culmination of joy.
The source of joy
What is it that brings David and the people of God such joy and jubilation as this wooden crate is carried forward.
Well, the reasons he lists to give God glory and to sing his praise are sandwiched in between these verses:
- who He is
- what He does
These perhaps are the obvious things that come to the forefront of his mind as David watches the Ark being brought into Jerusalem, he recalls some of these attributes of his God
- Who He is:
- a God of glory v.3
- v.4: He is great and most worthy of praise
- He’s the one true God v.5
- v.6 He’s a God of splendour and majesty
- v.7: glory and strength
- splendour of his holiness v.9
The people of Israel would have recounted the stories of his splendour and majesty – they’d be thinking back to God coming to them at Mount Sinai – the whole mountain covered with cloud, and surrounded by thunder, lightning and fire; they’d recall the pillar of fire that went before them at night in their exodus from Egypt and cloud by day
What He’s done:
V.5: he made the heavens: He created all things
‘marvellous deeds’ v.3:
V.2: his salvation
They’d have seen his acts, in creation, in the wonderful deeds He did among them as he brought them out of Egypt, parting the seas to allow them passage, providing food for them from the sky and water from a rock, to name but a few examples, and endlessly providing for them and show them goodness through the desert and into the promised land… And they’d have known his acts of salvation – as he saved them from their enemies numerous times, most recently against the Philistines.
It's clear why David would want to rejoice in his God.
What about us? Maybe that’s easy for David and the people to sing and praise God in that setting? How do we relate to this? – our situation is very different, this was a long time ago…
Well, maybe it should be easier for us.
David could look at the Ark to remember God’s goodness, love and provision for his people – can we not see this even more clearly in the life and death of Jesus. At the cross, we can see to a much greater level, the depths of his love for us, his children. This same God of power and splendour gave up his position in heaven, to became human, and eventually to suffer the most unimaginable pain and suffering as he was nailed to a cross in our place, to take the punishment for our sins. Are not these ‘wonderful acts’, this ‘salvation’ much greater than any David had seen at that time.
And I think this Psalm is meant to be read this way, as a prophecy of this greater salvation – you notice it says ‘sing to the Lord, all the Earth’, ‘sing of his salvation’ – if it was solely speaking about the salvation that David and Israel had from their enemies at that time, then it’s hard to see how the whole Earth would rejoice in that, only Israel. The Philistines, the Canaanites, the Egyptians wouldn’t have much to sing about, and rejoice in. No, this is meant to be understood in the light of the gospel of Jesus, to open up salvation to the whole world, to any who turn to him.
I hope that deep down we recognise that we as Christians have so much to be joyful for, but why is joy not a daily experience for us?
Have you seen the movie Emoji? It’s not the best! It’s an animation featring lots of emoji’s, and the hero is the emoji ‘Meh’ – Meh is a sort of bored, disinterested, no-plussed type reaction.
If I’m brutally honest, my reaction to who God is and what He’s done can be more of a Meh than one of joy very often.
And certainly, if we’re in the middle of a stressful day at work, or children arguing, or feeling lonely or flat, it won’t come naturally, to feel joyful, to praise God and to sing. David too had hard times in his life, and he’s writing these words as a reminder, so that he can look back on them at times when he isn’t witnessing the Ark coming into Jerusalem, when things are feeling tough.
It’s not that Christians are expected to enjoy hardship, or to be smiling cheerfully when stressed or anxious, but instead to hold onto a deeper joy and satisfaction from remembering who God is, and what He’s done – He died for us, we are loved and forgiven children of God.
A few weeks ago, my daughter Sophie had her cousin to stay – she lives in rural Suffolk, where it’s very beautiful, lots of fields, trees, sheep, but coming to London is always exciting; the city, with its buildings, theatres and the internet! And Sophie’s room is on the top floor and she said ‘look out my window, in the distance, you can see the skyscrapers from the city, Canary Wharf tower, but when they went to do that, it was clear that the tree outside our house had blocked the view.
And I think the same can happen to us, other things can come in the way to stop us seeing who God is, and what He’s done, that can transform the joy in the Lord into ‘Meh’
Our application for tonight if we want to be joyful people is how to find ways to keep looking at Jesus, at the cross – we take some responsibility for that, in how we use the time in our days. I’ll come back to that at the end to think practically how we might do that.
So that’s my first point – the source of joy: who God is, and what He’s done. In case you’re nervous here that I’ve been speaking for ages and am only a third of the way through – that’s not the case. Two smaller points to make…
The second point is The result of joy
If you look back at the text, you’ll notice that, although this is written to the people of Israel as they celebrate God’s work towards them, that this is not a private celebration.
This is to be done publicly:
v.1: ‘sing to the Lord all the earth’
v.2 proclaim his salvation -
v.3 ‘declare his glory among the nations
Martin Lloyd-Jones, a preacher in the early 20th century said ‘There can be little doubt that the exuberant joy of the early Christians was one of the most potent factors in the spread of Christianity’. Theirs was a deep joy that came from knowing who God is and what He’s done, and it was resilient through persecution, poverty, suffering…
If we can re-capture that deep joy that comes from knowing Christ, we’ll naturally want to speak about it with others we come alongside, and that is going to be hugely attractive to outsiders.
While those around us might appear very happy and comfortable, if they don’t know Jesus, they won’t have this deep, eternal, resilient joy that’s spoken of here. v.5 ‘He is the one true god, and that all the gods of the nations are idols’.
And conversely, it will be hard for us to tell people to ‘come and be glad in the Lord’ unless we’re glad in the Lord.
So our application here is the same – it’s not a command towards a guilt-ridden evangelism, again it’s to clear things out the way so we can see Jesus and find joy in Him, and that deep joy is likely to result in our sharing the message of Jesus with others, proclaiming his salvation and declaring his glory among the nations.
My final point from these verses is The culmination of joy
If we move on to v.10-13 - this looks to the future
You can see it starts in the present tense, v.10: ‘the Lord reigns, the world is firmly established’ – now – a reminder of his control and his hand over all that happens.
But then the rest is the future tense – v.10, he will judge, and again v.13: he comes (he is coming), he will judge. And the verses inbetween are a beautiful scene: v.11: let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; it goes on: the seas, the fields, the trees: v.13: ‘they will sing before the Lord’, it’s a picture of all of creation celebrating and rejoicing.
And what are they rejoicing for? v.13: ‘for He comes’– this is looking to the return of Jesus, and he comes to judge: this also means to rule / reign. And his reign will be one of justice (v.10), truth and righteousness (v.13).
This is a picture of the new creation, with the earth renewed and restored – the way it is meant to be, all of creation living under God’s authority, giving him praise for who He is and what he’s done – this is the culmination of our joy.
This probably doesn’t feel much like the world we know, all our daily stresses, anxieties and pain. I am sure that everybody here to some degree is feeling the pressure of life in some way, particularly how things have been in recent months, it’s hard. But we mustn’t lose sight of these promises, if you’re a follower of Jesus, this is our future, that Jesus will return one day to establish a new creation: a perfect world where all of creation lives in harmony, and all live under God’s rule.
We need to continue to look to his return, to trust his promises that He is coming back one day – I hope that this perspective too will help bring us joy, and enable us to sing praises to our God for who He is and what He’s done.
So briefly, in application, how can we be people of joy? Well, a start is establish routines and disciplines that will help us to be able to see Jesus, to clear the other stuff out the way, so we can be reminded of who He is and what he’s done. Some of those disciplines may be while meeting with other Christians and some may be how we spend time on our own.
One thing I read recently and found really helpful was in a book called the ‘Ruthless Elimination of Hurry’ by John Mark Comer, he said:
‘90% of us check our phones immediately upon waking. I can’t think of a worse way to start my day than a text from my work, a glance at email, a quick scroll through social media, and a news alert about that day’s outrage.
That is a sure fire recipe for anger, not love, Misery, not joy…’
Maybe there’s some truth there. Recently I’ve been trying to delay looking at my phone until after I’ve spent 15-20 minutes reading about who God is and what He’s done, and spending some time praying and meditating on this. Perhaps a way to try to clear things out the way so we can see Jesus.
I’m going to close and pray now, and then we’ll sing ‘The Joy of the Lord is my strength’. And may this be our prayer for SBD, that the joy of the Lord would be our strength, through the darkness, the tears, we’d continue to sing to our Lord, and that the joy of the Lord would be our strength.
Pray:
Lord, we thank you that we have so much to sing about and rejoice in, to you our God of power, majesty & glory, who has done marvellous deeds and brought salvation to us your people. Help us to be people of joy, a deep joy that endures despite the struggles and pressures of daily life, and may we live out and share that joy with others we come alongside. In Your name we pray. Amen