Worship Devotional I
Originally posted to the Facebook group on 11/15/2019.
Greetings, church family! I want to share some insight (warning: long post alert) about the songs that are on my heart for us to sing together this week. What follows is a devotional of sorts, so that we might each come better prepared to worship our great and awe-inspiring King with one heart, mind, and voice on Sunday.
To start off, let me explain where the inspiration for these songs comes from. The month of November is a season of thanksgiving, and much of our thanksgiving theology can be found in the Psalms. Most of us are familiar with Psalm 100, the classic thanksgiving psalm. However, the psalms surrounding it also have a great deal to say about our giving thanks to God. The fourth book of the Psalms (Psalms 90-106) is filled with exhortation to give thanks to God. They are also filled with praise for His kingship. Listen to Psalm 95:1-3:
"Come, let us shout joyfully to the Lord, shout triumphantly to the rock of our salvation! Let us enter His presence with thanksgiving; let us shout triumphantly to Him in song. For the Lord is a great God, a great King above all gods."
Here we see that the psalmist exhorts the people of God to come with thanksgiving into the presence of the King. All this is to say: the focus/theme of our corporate songs for this thanksgiving season is the kingship of Christ, and entering His presence with thanksgiving for who He is and all that He has done.
Here are this week's songs:
This song is a modern rendition on the early 1900s hymn, "Sing We The King" by Charles Silvester Horne. The song invites us to lift our voices in praise to Jesus our King, as we anticipate the coming of His everlasting kingdom.
2) Psalm 145 by The Modern Post
This song is taken straight from Psalm 145, declaring the greatness of God. The psalm reflects on the glory of God's kingdom, His characteristics and nature, and His wonderful works and deeds.
3) Psalm 98: Sing Unto The Lord by Shane & Shane
Drawn from Psalms 98 & 99, this song exhorts us to "Sing unto the Lord a new song for what He's done" and reminds us that "He's made known to us His salvation."
4) Only King Forever by Elevation Worship
To conclude our set, we have a more familiar modern worship song to declare the eternal reign of our Lord, who is King of kings, over all nations, all peoples, all things.
Here is a list Scripture passages pertaining to this week's set to read and meditate on to prepare our hearts for corporate worship:
1 Samuel 8
Psalm 22:27-28, 98, and 145
Jeremiah 10:6-7
Revelation 1:4-8, 15:3-4, and 19:11-16
I'm sharing this later in the week than I had hoped, but I hope anyone taking the time to read this might also find the time over these next couple of days to read these passages of Scripture and listen to the songs ahead of time. This way we can come together on Sunday better prepared to praise God in unity, growing together with what He is saying to us through these songs. Thank you for your time. I look forward to worshipping the Lord with all of you soon!