Results: thankful, worshiping hearts

Let's slide back up to the start of our psalm . . . trust in the Lord results in thankful, worshiping hearts:

Sing joyfully to the Lord, you righteous;
    it is fitting for the upright to praise him.
 Praise the Lord with the harp;
    make music to him on the ten-stringed lyre.

Sing to him a new song;
    play skillfully, and shout for joy.

 For the word of the Lord is right and true;
    he is faithful in all he does.

The Lord loves righteousness and justice;
    the earth is full of his unfailing love

An interesting analogy: A golf ball can be unwound; underneath the outer coating with the iconic bumps and logo, the elastic string that surrounds the core can be said to represent gratitude and worship. We unwind it and unwind it and find a solid core made of rubber or some polymer that gives the ball bounce. 

In the same way, thankfulness and worship are bound up with trusting in the Lord. If we unwind that gratitude, there will be a core of trust in His faithfulness -- it's the center of our worship. When we have no human means of escape and we cry out to God as our only hope -- He delivers us! Our hearts overflow then in thankfulness and praise to Him. 

When a slick method works, men or women get the praise. When God works, He gets the praise.

And I don't know if you noticed, but it's pretty exuberant praise that is called for! 

Sing!

Give thanks!

Play on the lyre and the harp!

Play skillfully and shout!

Doesn't sound to me like the psalmist would be happy with a crowd that kept their heads bowed and examined their church bulletin, or looked around at the rest of the worshipers with a frowny face!

"But I don't feel comfortable getting excited." "I just don't feel like I can raise my hands." "I'm doing good to just sing, much less say "amen" or shout or something." 

Hold on just a minute. If you are watching your favorite team play soccer or football, or watching your grandkids or neighbor's kiddos play ball or piano . . . . If they play like mad and sound awesome, don't you jump up and clap, and give them an ovation? You know you do.  And if your favorite team is in a close game and a player hauls in a spectacular catch for the win, do you sit there expressionless? Do you keep pushing chips in your mouth? Or do you jump up and holler? Maybe fling that bowl of chips into the air? You know you would!  Just don't toss the salsa; that would make too much of a mess. But I have known folks who "lost it" when their team won...... (Grin)

Why would people react that way at a sporting or other event? Because they are delighted with what happened. They are happy. The secret to heartfelt praise and open, unembarrassed thanksgiving is to recognize that we were in a desperate situation. There was no way for us to save ourselves from God's righteous judgment. We cried out to the God Who spoke the universe into existence -- the One Who sent His Son to save us by His grace.  And now, since we have experienced His love and mercy, we delight in Him and in His great salvation, and we can't help but sing for joy!

Amen!

Our completely trusting in the Lord results in thankful, worshiping hearts. As God's "righteous ones," who have seen Him deliver our souls from death, let's sing and praise him. 

Exuberantly!

Unembarrassed!

Let's delight in Him!