"Sing Praises to the Lord, O You His Saints"

Did you ever think about the powerful impact that music and song has on us? It really does touch the heart and stir in us a number of different emotions. Sometimes a song may bring back to mind something we might never have thought of again.

Sometimes, a song can spark a memory of an old friend, or a day spent with a friend at a special place, or even just driving around. Maybe a day at the beach. Maybe the emotion of patriotism and pride when Lee Greenwood sings "God Bless the U.S.A." Or when you hear a respectfully done version of the "Star Spangled Banner" or "America the Beautiful," especially if you or a loved one have served our country or sacrificed their lives for our country.

Music and song can have a powerful effect on our thoughts and emotions. That is something that advertisers know very well, and that’s why they try so hard to come up with catchy jingles about their products. They know that music reaches people on a deeper level than just talking.

The commercialization of music aside, it seems clear, doesn’t it, that God has given us the gift of music and song as a way of enriching our lives and expressing things more profoundly than we might do with mere words. St. Augustine said, "He who sings prays twice."

The great 17^th century hymn writer Paul Gerhardt wrote the wonderful hymn "I Will Sing My Maker’s Praises" (TLH 25) because it was only in song that he could adequately express the depth of God’s love. And that’s why in our Psalm for today, King David exhorts those who have experienced God’s goodness to respond in song, to sing God’s praises. Today’s Psalm makes it clear that God gives us something to sing about.

This second Sunday after Pentecost is the beginning of what is sometimes referred to as "Ordinary Time." But this time is far from ordinary. The importance of the Spirit working through Word and Sacrament unfolds, and the Church’s life in Christ is emphasized. This time of the church year gives us the opportunity to examine how the Holy Spirit empowers our union and life with Christ.

During the Sundays after Pentecost, worshipers can explore how the Spirit grants faith and hope through the Gospel, with some real application for life in this world. And this is something today’s Psalm presents powerfully, as it demonstrates the life, hope, joy, peace, power, consolation, and confidence that are the believer’s by faith. That’s another reason that the liturgical color for this season in green, which emphasizes life and growth.

Poetry causes the hearer to think profoundly and ponder the imagery and turns of expression, and to see how the rich and evocative language describes the human experience of God in a powerful way. This Psalm of David was poetry composed for a liturgical setting. It communicates at a deeper level. This Psalm of David was written to be used in connection with the dedication of "the house," either his own palace or more likely the temple.

Even into present times, this Psalm is used by the Jews during the celebration of Hanukkah, the festival that commemorates the rededication of the temple by Judah the Maccabee in 164BC.

In some respects, things haven’t changed much since the time of David. When things are going well for us, it’s easy to believe that we are self-sufficient. We sort of forget about God. We go along our way "fat, dumb, and happy." When David experienced prosperity, he grew arrogant. He claimed for himself the strength and power that were his only by virtue of God’s blessings.

Than there are the time when it seems like God is hiding his face from us. When we face life’s tragedies, sometimes we wonder where God is. Sometimes we are driven to ask the question why? Why did this happen to me or that innocent person, or those innocent people? We struggle with events like 9-11. We struggle with stuff like hurricane Katrina. We struggle with stuff like Virginia Tech, Columbine, and tornadoes that kill children at school.

I struggled with the death of Pastor Jerry Herston from Asbury Methodist church. I considered him a friend. He was about to move to Heflin and begin

When God seems to have hidden his face from us, we can feel dismayed. The feeling that God has hidden has face from us is one of the most powerful ways that the theology of the cross is brought to bear on the life of the Christian.

While the writers of the psalms frequently plead for God to answer why he has turned his back on them, they ultimately realize that God’s love is still present at that salvation will only be found in him. David’s feelings of rejection by God prefigures the ultimate rejection that Christ would experience on the cross as payment for the sins of the world.

God’s purpose is to bring us back to trust in him at all times. God’s correction should never be seen as a punishment for sin. God wants us to see that the only solution to our situation is to trust in his mercy. King David recognized that God’s anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime. When we recognize God’s goodness, even in times when it seems like he is chastising us, we have something to sing about.

God heals us – and that’s something to sing about. God’s healing can be in both body and spirit. Evidently, God healed King David from some kind of physical sickness in our psalm. Often our strength is restored after suffering some injury or illness. The God who brought back to life the son of the widow of Nain and the son of the widow of Zarephath is powerful to heal our diseases.

The healing that God provides can be more than just physical. Sometimes our spirits can be sick or injured as well. Sometimes we feel like we are going down to the pit. Sheol, by the way is synonymous with "pit." David wrote "O Lord, you have brought up my soul from Sheol." "What profit is there in my death, if I go down to the pit?" Sometimes we may feel like we are going down to the pit.

God’s healing power extends to both our bodies and our souls. The knowledge of His goodness can restore our souls to joy and fullness of life. Jesus came so that we could have life, and have it to the full. To know that God has given his own Son for our salvation, and that with him he will give us all things, including healing, is another way God gives us something to sing about.

When we are honest with ourselves, we can easily recognize our sinfulness, especially when we consider the perfection and sinlessness of God. Sometimes, we think we can fool God as easily as we fool ourselves or those around us.

Sometimes we try to make bargains with God, as if we had the right to do so. The real hear of the matter is mostly the size of our egos and sin itself, which puts us at the center of our universe instead of God. But God saves us from the despair and guilt of our sins. And that’s something to sing about.

God’s mercy and salvation are things we can be sure of because God himself has provided it for us through the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus Christ. It’s not that God can be merciful – even the Muslims believe that – but that God is merciful and forgives our sins.

He has shown his mercy by giving His own Son as the payment for the debt of our sin. By faith, we are forgiven and salvation is ours. We truly have something to sing about, because we know that God’s mercy is forever. Singing to God is possible because we can be sure that all thins are in His hands.

It reminds me of something I read recently. When a guy was asked how this other gut was doing, he answered, "If I were any better, I’d be singing." Isn’t that the point of our Psalm today? Could we be any better off?

In consideration of all that God has done, in view of his correcting love, which only has the purpose of drawing us back to God, when we remember the healing that He provides, healing of both body and spirit, and when we realize the depth of God’s love in sending his Son to provide for our salvation, how can we be any better off?

How can we help but respond by singing the praises of God? God truly does give us something to sing about! And so King David could only respond with those final words of today’s Psalm; "You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; you have loosed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness, that my glory may sing your praise and not be silent. O Lord, my God, I will give thanks to you forever! Amen.