The Word of the Lord is Upright

“Shout for joy in the Lord, O you righteous!

    Praise befits the upright.

Give thanks to the Lord with the lyre;

    make melody to him with the harp of ten strings!

Sing to him a new song;

    play skillfully on the strings, with loud shouts.

For the word of the Lord is upright,

    and all his work is done in faithfulness.

He loves righteousness and justice;

    the earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord.” (Psalms 33:1-5 ESV)

We can all sing, if we have a voice, even if we are tone deaf, which some people are. Even the deaf can sing with their hands and with their voices, if they are not mute. We don’t all play musical instruments, though, but some of us do a little bit, and others do quite well at playing musical instruments. I grew up as a child in a musical family. My parents were both gifted singers and my mother played the piano, so singing is something we did regularly. My voice is nearly gone now so singing out loud is hit and miss, but when the voice is not there I can still sing in my mind, and heart, and spirit.

But singing and playing musical instruments, in this context, isn’t just about how the music sounds or the fact that we are making music, but this has to do with true worship and praise of the Lord. For we can sing, and some people can play musical instruments, and it may sound beautiful (or not) to the human ear, but if all that it is is a performance, it is not true worship of the Lord. For true worship of the Lord begins in our hearts and minds, and it is evident by our actions, and by our deeds, and by our walks of obedience to the Lord Jesus. For the righteous are those who live righteously.

So, what are we to be singing about? We are to be singing about the uprightness of the word of the Lord. So the songs that we sing should be biblical in nature in teaching us the upright ways of the Lord, like so many of the old hymns do, which so many people today have gotten away from. And we should be singing about the faithfulness of the Lord to those who fear him, who do what he says. And we should be singing about his righteousness and his justice, and of his steadfast (agape) love which prefers what he prefers, which is all that is holy and pure and upright.

Sadly, so many of these modern praise and worship songs are very shallow and very light on biblical doctrine, righteousness, holiness, and obedience to the Lord. Many of these modern songs reflect the diluted and altered gospel message that so many are teaching today and so they do not challenge us at all in our walks of faith and in obedience to our Lord and in holy living, which they should, like so many of the old hymns do. And I am not saying this just because I am old, and because I grew up singing the hymns, but because it is biblical that our songs to the Lord should be rich in biblical truth.

"Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him,

    on those who hope in his steadfast love,

that he may deliver their soul from death

    and keep them alive in famine.

Our soul waits for the Lord;

    he is our help and our shield.

For our heart is glad in him,

    because we trust in his holy name.

Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us,

    even as we hope in you.” (Psalms 33:18-22 ESV)

And this is the kind of biblical truth that needs to be in our songs, too. For it is true (Old Testament and New Testament) that the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him, who believe him and his word, and who put the word of God into practice in their daily lives, by the grace of God, in the power, strength, and wisdom of God. They believe God and so they do not take his grace for granted, and they do not shirk his commandments nor his warnings which he has given to the church. And so they don’t play with sin, but they walk in the ways of the Lord, in practice.

And God’s steadfast love is agape love which means to prefer what he prefers, which is based in moral preference. So this love is holy, godly, righteous, morally pure, honest, faithful, and upright. So when God loves us with this love it will be based in what is morally pure and upright and godly, and so he is not going to give us permission to keep on in deliberate and habitual sin against him nor will he just ignore our sins and look away. His love speaks the truth in love to us because his desire for us is that we live holy and righteous lives in walks of obedience to him, and not in sin.

Those of us who are regarded as righteous in the eyes of the Lord are those of genuine God-persuaded faith in him who have been crucified with him in death to sin and who have been raised with him to walk in newness of life in him no longer as slaves to sin but now as slaves to God and to his righteousness. We are those who are living righteously, by the grace of God, though perhaps not perfectly, but consistently and in daily practice. For us, he is our help and our shield, for we place our trust in him and in his word and we do what his word teaches us, in practice, by God’s grace.

[Matthew 7:21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 1:12-13; John 6:44; Romans 2:6-8; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Corinthians 5:15; Galatians 5:16-21; Galatians 6:7-8; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 10:23-31; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10]   

As the Deer 

By Martin J. Nystrom

Based off Psalm 42:1

As the deer panteth for the water

 So my soul longeth after You

 You alone are my heart's desire

 And I long to worship You

You alone are my strength, my shield

 To You alone may my spirit yield

 You alone are my heart's desire

 And I long to worship You

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZv3jzOTE70

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