Shout for Joy in The Lord

[Christsfreeservant]

“Shout for joy in the Lord, O you righteous!​

Praise befits the upright.​

Give thanks to the Lord with the lyre;​

make melody to him with the harp of ten strings!​

Sing to him a new song;​

play skillfully on the strings, with loud shouts.​

For the word of the Lord is upright,​

and all his work is done in faithfulness.​

He loves righteousness and justice;​

the earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord.” (Psalms 33:1-5 ESV)​

How can we, as the people of God today, who are living righteously, according to his commands, and in his power, “shout for joy in the Lord”? Does it have to be a loud shout verbally with our lips to where it shakes the foundations of buildings? Or can it be spoken softly with no noise but with the same power and strength? And what is the point of this shout? Is it to draw attention to ourselves, or is it to give honor and glory to God?

And if we have joy in the Lord, what should that joy be about? It should be about him, right? It should be about who he was and is and his character and his plan and purpose for our lives, and about what Jesus did for us in giving his life up for us on that cross to put our sins to death with him. We should be verbalizing where others can hear us our joy in the Lord and in our salvation from sin, how he rescued us from our slavery to sin.

But it doesn’t stop there. He didn’t just rescue us from our addiction to sin, but he gave us new lives in Christ Jesus to now be lived for his glory and purposes, according to his expressed will for our lives written down for us in the Scriptures. We should be sharing with the people the joy that we have in Christ Jesus because of the change God has brought about in our hearts and minds and behaviors in making us new creations in Christ Jesus, our Lord.

Now, not all of us play musical instruments. I can kind of play the piano just a very little bit, well enough to plunk out a tune or to write a song, but not well enough to play in front of other people. Singing was my gift. But we don’t have to be gifted musically at all to give praise to our Lord. We can praise and thank him with what we say or write, but mainly we praise him by how we live our lives in walks of obedience to his commands.

For we can perform all kinds of “songs and dances,” supposedly to the Lord, but if our hearts are not surrendered to the Lord to do his will for our lives, then it is just noise. We who profess faith in Jesus Christ, that he is our Lord, must be people who are living uprightly and righteously, in the power of God, who are walking in obedience to his commands, living the life he has for us to live. And that is the greatest “shout out” to the Lord there is.

For the Lord loves righteousness and justice. And we should, too, which should be evident by how we live our lives, day in and day out. Because the Lord and his word are upright, so should we be in how we live. Because the work of the Lord is done in faithfulness, so should our work be done. As God is, in his righteousness and purity, so should our lives be. We should be people of God who live godly, upright, and morally pure lives to his glory.

That really is the best “shout out” in joy to the Lord that we can make. For words can be cheap if they are not followed up with actions. Our lives and how we live them are the strongest testimony to what we really believe about the Lord and if truly our joy is in him. But this does not mean that we neglect speaking the truth of God’s word to people, too. We need to be sharing the truth of the gospel with the people for their salvation from sin, so that they can now live for the Lord in walks of obedience to him.

[Matt 5:13-16; Matt 28:18-20; Jn 4:31-38; Jn 13:13-17; Jn 14:12; Acts 1:8; Acts 26:18; Rom 10:14-15; Eph 5:11-14; 1 Pet 2:9,21; 1 John 2:6]

Songs in the Night

An Original Work / December 18, 2013
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

“About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.” Acts 16:25 NIV ‘84

Lord, I praise You forevermore.
You, my Savior, I now adore.
Hope in heaven awaiting me,
Because You died at Calvary.

I have been forgiven,
And I’m bound for heaven.
Jesus set me free from
All my sin, I say.
I will praise Him always!

Lord, I love You for all You’ve done:
Overcame death, my vict’ry won!
Jesus saved me, and now I’m free!
I rejoice in His love for me.

I will walk in vict’ry!
My sin is but hist’ry!
I am free to please Him
With my life today.
I will love Him always!

Lord, I thank You for giving me
A new life bought at Calvary.
Loving Jesus, I meet with Him.
Tender mercies now flow within.

Lord, I am so thankful;
Through my Lord, I’m able
To sit at His table;
Fellowship with Him.
I will thank Him always!

Shout for Joy in The Lord
An Original Work / February 5, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love