Praise the Lord.
Sing to the Lord a new song,
his praise in the assembly of his faithful people.Let Israel rejoice in their Maker;
let the people of Zion be glad in their King.
Let them praise his name with dancing
and make music to him with tambourine and harp.
For the Lord takes delight in his people;
he crowns the humble with victory.
Let his faithful people rejoice in this honour
and sing for joy on their beds.May the praise of God be in their mouths
and a double-edged sword in their hands,
to inflict vengeance on the nations
and punishment on the peoples,
to bind their kings with fetters,
their nobles with shackles of iron,
to carry out the sentence written against them –
this is the glory of all his faithful people.Praise the Lord.
(Ps. 149:1-9 NIV)
The Psalm opens with the customary call to worship; ‘Praise the Lord’. They are to sing a new song of celebration about the future age when there will be a complete overthrow of evil for ever. It is a song of hope and expectation that the sword of justice will bring to an end the reign of the wicked.
The praise of the Lord is to be sung in the congregation of God’s people. The people of God are to rejoice in their Maker and be glad of God’s constant rule over them as King. The great works of the Lord was the cause of their joy. They were to praise the name of the Lord with dancing and making music. The Lord takes delight in His people and crowns them with victory. Even when they retired for the night, they were to rejoice in the honour that God paid them by delighting in them. Praising God was not just something done at church, it was to be exercised in every area of life.
The people of God were to have the praise of God upon their lips and the sword of justice in their hands. The praise of God was their expression of confidence and joy in the Lord, and the sword in the hand denotes a spirit of watchfulness. Ultimately the Lord will crush the devil under the feet of His people. Vengeance will be inflicted on those who did not obey the Lord. All the acts of judgement will demonstrate the grace and mercy that God has for His people. Sin will be judged, and God’s people will be exalted. God’s people will be glorified in their own salvation and in the punishment of the wicked. This is to cause further praise, ‘Praise the Lord’.
Prayer
Lord we thank You for Your great work of salvation. Help us to have Your praise upon our hearts in every area of our lives. We thank You that one day Christ will be exalted, and every knee will bow before Him. We thank You for the grace and mercy that You have shown us. Out of love for Christ we gladly bow before Him and acknowledge him to be our Saviour and Lord. Help us to live in His strength because we pray in His name. Amen.