There’s something about good times that make us want to sing. We sing to celebrate someone’s birthday. We have a whole genre of songs for Christmas. I remember graduation day at the University of Virginia when the whole graduating class came together, arms on each other’s shoulders, as we swayed together and sang the Good Old Song. But it’s not only big events that make us sing; a good week can be reason enough. Perhaps you break out Spotify on your phone and convert your morning routine into a concert. Something about good times just make us sing.
For the next few weeks we’re going to run a series of blogs about the Book of Psalms, the songbook for the people of God. In this one book is a diverse array of songs – because different life experiences call for different music. By giving us such a varied songbook, God’s giving us the vocabulary to process and express our experiences in this world. This week we start off with the type of Psalm called “Hymns.”
Mark Futado, an Old Testament scholar, describes them like this. “Hymns were composed for times when all is well. They are songs for those trouble-free times in life, when our lives are well-ordered, well oriented” (Mark Futado, Interpreting the Psalms, 146). Hymns are the songs you sing in the shower. They’re the songs you sing because things are going well and you want to praise God for his goodness.
A short and sweet hymn is Psalm 117:
1 Praise the Lord, all nations!
Extol him, all peoples!
2 For great is his steadfast love toward us,
and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever.
Praise the Lord!
Simple, right? The psalmist starts by calling us all to praise the Lord. Why? Because he loves us and he’s faithful to us. We don’t know the specific context of this psalm, but that makes it all the more applicable to us. We don’t need to know specifically what the psalmist is praising God for to join in the chorus. We know what it’s like to see God’s love and faithfulness: a baby boy is born healthy, a medical test comes back with good results, things at work are drama-free. Times like this make us want to sing and God has given us words for such a moment.
Where have you seen God’s love and faithfulness this week? Are there specific things you want to praise him for? A hymn - like Psalm 29, 47, 104, 105, or 148 – will help you do it.