Read
1They put the sacred chest inside the tent that David had set up for it, then they offered sacrifices to please the Lord and sacrifices to ask his blessing. 2After David had finished, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord 3and gave every person in the crowd a small loaf of bread, some meat, and a handful of raisins.
4David appointed some of the Levites to serve at the sacred chest; they were to play music and sing praises to the Lord God of Israel. 5Asaph was their leader, and Zechariah was his assistant. Jeiel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Mattithiah, Eliab, Benaiah, Obed-Edom, and another man named Jeiel were appointed to play small harps and stringed instruments. Asaph himself played the cymbals, 6and the two priests Benaiah and Jahaziel were to blow trumpets every day in front of the sacred chest.
David's Song of Praise
(Psalms 105.1-15; 96.1-13; 106.1,47,48)
7That same day, David instructed Asaph and his relatives for the first time to sing these praises to the Lord:
8Praise the Lord
and pray in his name!
Tell everyone
what he has done.
9Sing praises to the Lord!
Tell about his miracles.
10Celebrate and worship
his holy name
with all your heart.
11Trust the Lord
and his mighty power.
Worship him always.
12Remember his miracles
and all his wonders
and his fair decisions.
13You belong to the family
of Israel, his servant;
you are his chosen ones,
the descendants of Jacob.
14The Lord is our God,
bringing justice
everywhere on earth.
15We must never forget
his agreement and his promises,
not in thousands of years.
* 16 God made an eternal promise
17to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
18when he said, “I'll give you
the land of Canaan.”
19At the time there were
only a few of us,
and we were homeless.
20We wandered from nation
to nation, from one country
to another.
21 God did not let anyone
mistreat our people.
Instead he protected us
by punishing rulers
22and telling them,
“Don't touch my chosen leaders
or harm my prophets!”
23Everyone on this earth,
sing praises to the Lord.
Day after day announce,
“The Lord has saved us!”
24Tell every nation on earth,
“The Lord is wonderful
and does marvelous things!
25The Lord is great and deserves
our greatest praise!
He is the only God
worthy of our worship.
26Other nations worship idols,
but the Lord created
the heavens.
27Give honor and praise
to the Lord,
whose power and beauty
fill his holy temple.”
28Tell everyone of every nation,
“Praise the glorious power
of the Lord.
29He is wonderful! Praise him
and bring an offering
into his temple.
Worship the Lord,
majestic and holy.
30Everyone on earth, now tremble!”
The world stands firm,
never to be shaken.
31Tell the heavens and the earth
to be glad and celebrate!
And announce to the nations,
“The Lord is King!”
32Command the ocean to roar
with all of its creatures
and the fields to rejoice
with all of their crops.
33Then every tree in the forest
will sing joyful songs
to the Lord.
He is coming to judge
all people on earth.
34 Praise the Lord
because he is good to us,
and his love never fails.
35Say to him, “Save us, Lord God!
Bring us back
from among the nations.
Let us celebrate and shout
in praise of your holy name.
36Lord God of Israel,
you deserve to be praised
forever and ever.”
After David finished, the people shouted, “Amen! Praise the Lord!”
Reflect
One of my weekly joys is helping a group of youth at our church prepare for their “rotation” as music worship leaders each month. Each week we meet to choose and rehearse songs that we believe will be meaningful and serve as a means to lead people into a deeper and closer relationship with Jesus.
The talent of my group eclipses my own – by several degrees – and I am sure the members of the congregation recognize and appreciate that. When we are introducing a new song for rehearsal, I am constantly amazed at how quickly the youth “pick it up.” Because of this talent I am often left with the conclusion that we could justifiably and adequately perform almost any song after just the first day of rehearsal. I am truly thankful that God has assembled this talent in our group.
But I also realize that it is not just talent alone that helps this group “gel” around a song. As much as their talent is a factor, so too is the fact that the songs we choose and sing are also life testimonies of the group members. When you sing songs that are honest reflections of who you are and to whom you are grateful, it is not difficult to lead in heavenly worship.
In this text, David wrote a worship song. He had a group of worship leaders who took that song, learned it and then led the nation in worship. Because of the congruency between their heart attitude and the words of the song, the result was heavenly worship to which the worshippers all proclaimed, “Amen!”
Respond
God, today I worship you, not with meaningless words but with words that are a genuine reflection of my heart’s love and thanks for who you are and what you have done for me. May my worship be received in your presence as heavenly!
Jon Ohlhauser
Jon is currently Provost & VP for Academic Affairs at Crandall University in Moncton, New Brunswick. Jon holds a Ph.D. in Communication and has held various faculty and administrative positions in post-secondary education in Ontario, Alberta and New Brunswick. He also served as a legislative speech writer in Edmonton, AB for a number of MLA’s. John is married to Jeneanne and has 7 children. Jon enjoys the challenge of living a healthy and active lifestyle and is currently a registered, competitive amateur boxer.