McKay Vandenberg: Good morning, good afternoon, good evening. We are continuing on our daily reading of the Psalms, and today we'll be reading Psalms 98. The passage says, Sing a new song to the Lord, for he has done wonderful deeds. His right hand has won a mighty victory his holy arm has shown his saving power. The Lord has announced his victory and has revealed his righteousness to every nation.
He has remembered his promise to love and be faithful to Israel. The ends of the earth have seen the victory of our God. Shout to the Lord, all the earth break out in praise and sing for joy. Sing your praise to the Lord with the harp, with the harp and a melodious song, with trumpets and the sound of the ram's horn. Make a joyful symphony before the Lord, the King.
Let the sea and everything in it shout his praise. Let the earth and all living things join in. Let the rivers clap their hands in glee. Let the hills sing out their songs of joy before the Lord for he is coming to judge the earth. He will judge the world with justice and the nations with fairness.
One of the things I find really comforting in this Psalm is in verse six, with trumpets and the sound of the ram's horn make a joyful symphony before the Lord the king. I am not someone that considers myself blessed with tons of musical talent. But as I've done research and looked at how a ram's horn was played, it's pretty simple. You just kind of blow into it and it makes its own sound and that is glorious to God. So of the things I took away from this is that no matter where you are, what your praise sounds or looks like, it is still beautiful to God.
He still loves the praise that we offer him. And then I'm also reflecting on this, let all the earth and living things join in. Let the hills sing out their songs of joy before the Lord. In Southern California, we're getting tons of rain at the time of this recording, which means pretty soon all of our hills and mountains are gonna be green with tons of flowers blooming and just bringing beauty to our rather dry state. And now as someone that looks at those things and finds beauty in it, I might be a little over emotional in this, but sometimes when I look at those mountains and I see the the green and the flowers, it makes me emotional because even in the smallest creation, the themes that the things that are seemingly insignificant to us, those green hills, those flowers, the the weather that we have still sing God's glorious praise and the beauty in the world that he has created.
So as you read this Psalm, rest in the fact that knowing whether you're a good singer, a a bad singer, a guitar player, or someone that's clapping off beat, The Lord loves to hear your praise and loves when we offer our praise to him. Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, thank you for, the beautiful world that you have created. Lord, all throughout this this earth we can see your creative eye and design as you as you stitched everything together. As we go about our day, our weeks, our months, Lord, help us to remember to sing praises to you whether we are comfortable or not, Lord.
Just help us to be aware of the ways you are at work. Be aware of the beauty that you bring into our lives, and help us to be aware of the praise that we can offer to you in that. Heavenly Father, we pray all these things in Jesus' name. Amen.