Psalm 33
By Bro David Petersen
The Book of Psalms
Introduction |
Psalm 1 |
Psalm 9 |
Psalm 23 |
Psalm 30 |
Psalm 33 |
Psalm 34 |
Psalm 46 |
Psalm 96 |
Psalm 103 |
Psalm 119
How Great Thou Art
O , LORD , MY GOD
WHEN I , IN AWESOME WONDER
CONSIDER ALL THE WORLD’S THY HANDS HAVE MADE
I SEE THE STARS I HEAR THE ROLLING THUNDER
THY POWER THRU OUT THE UNIVERSE DISPLAYED
CHORUS :
THEN SINGS MY SOUL MY SAVIOR GOD TO THEE
HOW GREAT THOU ART HOW GREAT THOU ART
THEN SINGS MY SOUL MY GOD TO THEE
HOW GREAT THOU ART HOW GREAT THOU ART
2:
AND WHEN I THINK THAT GOD
HIS SON NOT SPARING SENT TO DIE
I SCARCE CAN TAKE IT IN THAT ON THE CROSS
MY BURDENS GLADLY BEARING
HE BLED AND DIED TO TAKE AWAY MY SIN
3:
WHEN CHRIST SHALL COME
WITH SHOUT OF ACCLAMATION
AND TAKE ME HOME WHAT JOY SHALL FILL MY HEART
THEN I SHALL BOW IN HUMBLE ADORATION
AND THERE PROCLAIM MY GOD HOW GREAT THOU ART
REPEAT CHORUS :
TAG :
HOW GREAT THOU ART
HOW GREAT THOU ART
HOW GREAT THOU ART
HOW GREAT THOU ART
Psalm 33
Commentary by Bro. David Petersen
3:1 Rejoice in the LORD, O ye righteous: for praise is comely for the upright.
The world may complain against the Lord but praise is appropriate for the upright.
Unbelievers may speak blasphemously against God, but joyfull praise is fitting for the righteous.
2 Praise the LORD with harp: sing unto him with the psaltery and an instrument of ten strings.
Some denominations such as Primitive Baptists don't use musical instruments in their worship because they believe it's unscriptural.
We make a scriptural case for musical instruments in worship as follows:
1. The psalms are still in force for the New Testament church:
" Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord." Col 3:16.
The New Testament word "psalms" comes from the Greek word "psalmos". Psalmos is define as "a song sung to the accompaniment of a musical instrument." Therefore the very term psalm implies musical instrument accompanyment by definition.
2. Since the psalms are still a part of our scriptural rule of faith and practice, we can go to them for instruction regarding worship. This psalm specifically calls for musical accompanyment on the harp, psaltery and instrument of 10 strings.
3 Sing unto him a new song; play skilfully with a loud noise.
Old Hymns With Depth
I love the old hymns that we sing. First the melodies have a quality of reverent awe that few modern melodies have been able to achieve. Second the words tend to be very deeply spiritual and powerful. They have doctrinal depth whereas a lot of modern songs are spiritually superficial. But this verse does in fact urge us to "sing unto him a new song".
A New Song
So what kind of new song should we sing? Iis there a right and wrong way to worship with music? Are there scriptural guidelines which should govern our choice of worship music?
Notice that the object of our musical worship is defined in this psalm. We are to rejoice in the Lord and praise him.
The phrase "with a loud noise" comes from the Hebrew term ' teruw` ah' (ter-oo-aw') which means a clamor, i.e. acclamation of joy or a battle-cry; especially a blast of trumpets such as a battle alarm.
The very definition of the word 'praise' instructs us in the nature of our musical worship. The word 'praise' comes from the Hebrew word tehillah which refers to songs of laudation and admiration that sing about the majestic acts of the subject of the song. Since the psalm instructs us to "praise the Lord", our songs should laud his majestic acts.
Heb 2:12
12 Saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee.
Our worship is to declare the name of God. It should be directed toward God, not toward each other.
Paul's criterion was to "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly...as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs" (Col. 3:16). Musical worship should focus on God and the objective truths found in His Word.
The word "richly" in Col 3:16 means abundantly, generously or copiously. We need copious amounts of the word of Christ in the psalms, hymns and spiritual songs that we sing.
Contemporary Worship Lite
Today contemporary worship in most churches has light and airy tunes such as, "In moments like these, I lift up my hands, I sing out a love song to Jesus." There is a shift in modern music quality which is enduring to quality which is fleeting, repetitive, and unimpressive.These amount to "love songs" to Jesus. The change from the deep, thought-provoking, God-centered, doctrinal hymns to shallow, experience-oriented, man-centered gospel songs is clear. This is essentially a worship based on sentimentalism. How did modern worship music get this way?
Charles Finney Popularized Sentimentalism
In the early 1800's, Charles Finney was a so-called evangelist who popularized sentimentalism. Finney viewed salvation as being completely the work of man, denying the work of the Holy Spiritl in regeneration. Christ's perfect obiedience in the place of the sinner was absent. The sermon on each Sunday was 'doing better' or 'steps and principles to the victorious Christian Life'. The Biblical understanding of the 2 natures (carnal and spiritual) was dismissed. The saved were not redeemed sinners, but were victorious people.
Finney believed in absolute free will. Man can choose to be righteous. All he needs is a little persuasion. This is what led Finney into evangelistic methods which sought to gain an emotional response by the listener.
Finney's Methods
The main method that he used was a relatively new vehicle, an American invention that Finney popularized called "the revival meeting". In these revival meetings Finney also employed social-psychological manipulation primarily through the use of a rather new technique which he also popularized referred to as the altar call. In Finney's altar calls, emotional appeals were made to pressure people to "make a decision for Christ" right now. Using these powerful pesuasive tools, Finney sucessfully spread sentimentalism throughout the United States.
Sentimental Music
This new sentimental religion needed a new style of music to support its highly emotional appeals; a style which focuses on mankind's feelings about God instead of God and his attributes. Sentimental worship music is not characterized by the depth of biblical revelation; but rather by one's own personal experience and feelings. They are more about "me," and not about Christ. They speak of subjective, fleeting experience that has no definite bearing on the body of Christ as a whole.
Billy Sunday
Sentimentalism got another big boost in 1912 when "evangelist" Billy Sunday came on the scene. Sunday employed Finney's methods with great success.
A Theology Of Ignorance
One of Billy's Sunday's more famous quotes is "I don't know any more about theology than a jack rabbit knows about ping-pong." Sunday's sermons were legalistic in nature and usually emphasized a list of "do's and don'ts". (dont drink, don't smoke, etc.). It was an anti-intellectual form of Christianity. This self-admitted theology of ignorance was based on feelings, not knowledge. And it needed something to fill the intellectual vacuum.
Add Entertainment To The Mix
Sunday's own personal contribution to the system was to add in the element of entertainment. To do this he elisted the services of the most powerful "contemporary Christian music" producer of the time: Homer Rodheaver. Homer Rodheaver had been recording and marketing Christian music since the days of Edison style recorders and he owned the rights to many of the most popular Christian hits of the day. Rodheaver became Sunday's songleader. He often used one of his most popular hits during altar calls which was a song called "In The Garden".
In The Garden was written by Austin Miles in 1912. Here are the lyrics:
I come to the garden alone
While the dew is still on the roses
And the voice I hear, falling on my ear
The Son of God discloses
And He walks with me
And He talks with me
And He tells me I am His own
And the joy we share as we tarry there
None other has ever known
He speaks and the sound of His voice
Is so sweet the birds hush their singing
And the melody that He gave to me
Within my heart is ringing
I'd stay in the garden with Him
'Tho the night around me be falling
But He bids me go; through the voice of woe
His voice to me is calling.
Jesus: Lord or Lover?
In many of these hymns, such as "In the Garden", Christ is almost seen as a lover of the singer. Sentimentalism about an "idea" of Christ, and of the day when one "made his decision" are severly stressed.
A scriptural worship hymn is not centered on the experience of man “falling in love” with God but the activity of a loving God on behalf of fallen man. And that divine activity is always by means of grace; not feelings and garden walks with imaginary Jesuses.
Christ Centered Worship Music
It is the content of the Word of God, and not the content of a person's own personal experience, that should drive the worship music of the Lord's churches. A God-centered theology should govern the use of music in worship.
Many preachers around the country adopted the methods of Finney and Sunday. The temptation to use emotional appeals to build up numbers in the churches "made sense". And today, sentimental music pervades and dominates American churches as well as Christian pop.
Those really sentimental lyrics lack depth and are boring. Profound lyrics that praise God, declare his name and are rich in the word of Christ inspire.
I'm not saying that there is no place for emotion or personal experience in the church. God made us to be emotional creatures. We are not looking for an icy cold Christianity.
tWhat I am saying is that scriputral worship music in the church is God centered, not self-centered. It is about the Lord, his attributes and what he has done for us; not our own personal feelings and experiences. This psalm encourges to shout out for joy with great feeling. But these emotions are to be inspired by the greatness of God, not our own subjective personal experiences.
Personal Testimony
There is also a proper place for personal testimonies where members of the church share what the Lord has done for them. There is even room for dignified altar calls that invite people to repent and turn to God for salvation or to re-dedicate their lives to him as they are convicted by the Holy Spirit.
Spiritual Discernment
I'm not even saying that we should never sing "In The Garden". What I am saying is that we can't let sentimentalism dominate our musical worship. The idea is to get us to be spiritually discerning in all matters of faith and practice, including musical worship. When we look at a song or a book or movie or television show we should be discerning of its messages. What is the basis of the song we are singing? Is it based on the sound theology of praising God for his beautiful attributes and his wonderful works; or is it based on sentimentalism and subjective personal experience?
The Ultimate Counter-Culture
All this sentimentalism has led many people to think that Christianity is a crutch for sentimental people who aren't all that "in touch with reality." We must take a U-turn on this sentimental journey, and show the world a Christianity with edges, a counter-culture Christianity, a rigorous Christianity that does not flinch or hide in the face of tough questions.
It might be hard to swallow, and it might not be accepted by everyone, but at least it would be worth listening to--at least it would be worth believing.
Awesome God
Here is an example of a modern worship song which I would consider to have doctrinal depth. You can see the focus on God right in the title: "Awesome God".
When He rolls up His sleeves He ain't just putting on the ritz
There is thunder in His footsteps And lightning in His fists
The Lord wasn't joking When He kicked 'em out of Eden
It wasn't for no reason That He shed His blood
His return is very close And so you better be believing
That Our God is an awesome God
And when the sky was starless In the void of the night
He spoke into the darkness And created the light
Judgment and wrath He poured out on Sodom
Mercy and grace He gave us at the cross
I hope that we have not totally forgotten
That Our God is an awesome God
4 For the word of the LORD is right; and all his works are done in truth.
5 He loveth righteousness and judgment: the earth is full of the goodness of the LORD.
6 By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.
7 He gathereth the waters of the sea together as an heap: he layeth up the depth in storehouses.
8 Let all the earth fear the LORD: let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him.
9 For he spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast.
10 The LORD bringeth the counsel of the heathen to nought: he maketh the devices of the people of none effect.
11 The counsel of the LORD standeth for ever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations.
12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD: and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance.
13 The LORD looketh from heaven; he beholdeth all the sons of men.
14 From the place of his habitation he looketh upon all the inhabitants of the earth.
15 He fashioneth their hearts alike; he considereth all their works.
16 There is no king saved by the multitude of an host: a mighty man is not delivered by much strength.
17 An horse is a vain thing for safety: neither shall he deliver any by his great strength.
18 Behold, the eye of the LORD is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy;
19 To deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine.
20 Our soul waiteth for the LORD: he is our help and our shield.
21 For our heart shall rejoice in him, because we have trusted in his holy name.
22 Let thy mercy, O LORD, be upon us, according as we hope in thee.
The Book of Psalms
Introduction |
Psalm 1 |
Psalm 9 |
Psalm 23 |
Psalm 30 |
Psalm 33 |
Psalm 34 |
Psalm 46 |
Psalm 96 |
Psalm 103 |
Psalm 119