Worship Restored


Psalm 96
1Oh sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth!
2Sing to the Lord, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day.
3Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples!
4For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; he is to be feared above all gods.
5For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols, but the Lord made the heavens.
6Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.
7Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the peoples, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength!
8Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; bring an offering, and come into his courts!
9Worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness; tremble before him, all the earth!
10Say among the nations, “The Lord reigns! Yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved; he will judge the peoples with equity.”
11Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; let the sea roar, and all that fills it;
12let the field exult, and everything in it! Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy
13before the Lord, for he comes, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness, and the peoples in his faithfulness.

King David took leadership of Israel in two phases. First, he was crowned king in Hebron, a region south of Jerusalem from whence he ruled for seven years. Then he moved into Jerusalem and was crowned king over all of Israel. At that point, he goes about setting the worship life of the people into order. The first task was to bring the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem. This involved an incredible display of worship and adoration on the part of King David. He arranges for massive sacrifice and even dances before the Lord in what amounts to his underwear. Most remarkably, for a short time, David puts the Ark in a simple tent that is pitched on top of a hill. Here, the entire community can see the Ark (which was highly unusual) and worship of the Lord is brought into the lives of God’s people. God is available to everyone.

1 Chronicles 16:1–7
1And they brought in the ark of God and set it inside the tent that David had pitched for it, and they offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before God. 2And when David had finished offering the burnt offerings and the peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord 3and distributed to all Israel, both men and women, to each a loaf of bread, a portion of meat, and a cake of raisins. 4Then he appointed some of the Levites as ministers before the ark of the Lord, to invoke, to thank, and to praise the Lord, the God of Israel. 7Then on that day David first appointed that thanksgiving be sung to the Lord by Asaph and his brothers.

We are so blessed to live on this side of the death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ. His death and payment for our sin opened forever the Way to Lord of Universe. He is readily available to us at all times! We are free to bring the words of this psalm into His ears whenever we want to and He will hear us and receive our praise.

Do something bold today. Read this psalm out-loud. You may have to choose your timing on that one, as the person in the next cubical may not appreciate your words of worship (and maybe that’s okay too!) But do it. Find a time and a place where you can read these words out-loud and offer them up as a true praise to the Living God. He deserves it!

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