Psalm 98:1: “Oh, sing to the LORD a new song! / For He has done marvelous things; / His right hand and His holy arm have gained Him the victory.”

April 13th, 2024 by Pastor Ed in devotional

A young teenager once complained to his father that he found most of the hymns they sang in church boring because they were too far behind the times. The father put an end to his son’s complaints by saying, “If you think you can write better hymns, then let’s see you try.” So after church the teenager went to his room and wrote his first hymn: “When I Survey The Wondrous Cross.” That teenager was 16 year-old Isaac Watts, and the year was 1690. Soon after this Watts went on to write “Joy To The World,” a hymn he claimed was an attempt to put parts of Psalm 98 to music, especially verses 4–9. Over the next nearly 60 years of his life, Watts wrote 750 hymns.

Our heavenly Father knows we are creatures of habit; and that we are in danger of falling into fur-lined ruts, mindlessly repeating the old familiar words of songs we know well, without giving much thought to their meaning. God is not looking for mindless worship (which is not worship at all), or any kind of mindless obedience for that matter. Jesus confirmed this idea when He told the woman at the well that God is looking for those who will worship “in spirit and truth” (John 4:23). God wants us to engage our minds as well as our hearts, singing to Him songs that are true to us personally. A.W. Tozer said, “Christians don’t tell lies, they just go to church and sing them.”

“LORD, we want to worship You with our minds, hearts, mouths, and actions this day. Give us a new song to sing to You, in Jesus’ name.”