Make a Joyful Noise unto the Lord

[i]

Psalm 98:4 

King James Version (KJV)

⁴ Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all the earth: make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise.

As I write this, the world is in Russia watching the FIFA World Cup playoffs. Stadiums are full of fans who have gathered for two hours of a game between the teams of two different countries. When a player makes a great play, the whole stadium seems to rock under the roar of the gathered soccer aficionados. Around the world, people gather in pubs to watch the play and shout their feelings.

We were in Monterey, Mexico, during another playoff some years ago. Our host took his TV out onto his front patio, connected big speaker boxes to it, and all the neighbors gathered around. Even here great roars of approval would echo up and down the street as people expressed their enthusiasm for their home team’s performance.

What benefit did these millions of enthusiasts gain when their team scored a goal? From their responses one would think that this gave them long life and great wealth. When the home team would do poorly or when the competing team would score a goal, a loud moan of anger and pain would escape their lips. If one didn’t know better, one would wonder if the watching throng had just suffered incalculable loss. The supporters would debate long and vociferously about what the players should have done.

The liturgical church service I attend and often participate in is a carefully orchestrated performance that has every part carefully laid out and coordinated to fit exactly into a given time slot. We have grand music performed by a professional on a magnificent pipe organ. I must confess I love the magnificence of the music. I sit back and close my eyes and allow the organ waves of praise to God to thrill my every nerve, marrow, and fiber. If the music is especially moving, I will allow myself to respond with a subdued, reverent “Amen.” Otherwise, I follow the hymn’s injunction to “let all the earth keep silence before Him!”

When, on occasion, I read the liturgy, I do my best to read it meaningfully and with careful dignity. I would be stunned if what I read elicited a heartfelt response, no matter the sense of what I read, even if it came from the verse listed above: “Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all the earth: make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise.” For some reason we just don’t worship God that way! Is this Laodiceanism?[ii] If so then God tells us he will spit us out of his mouth.

Lord, I love You for what You have done for me! Use my voice and my very soul to praise You with appropriate enthusiasm.

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[i] https://es.fifa.com/fifaeworldcup/photos/galleries/y=2014/m=9/gallery=ea-sportstm-fifa-15-for-sony-playstation-3-2444281.html

[ii] Indifference in religion or politics (from the Merriam Webster Dictionary)