Sing to the Lord a new song

Every day we're reading or listening to part of the Bible together and sharing thoughts with you. Today it’s Bern Leckie:

What did I like about today’s passage?

Is there anything which feels a bit too “samey” in your life? I’ve certainly felt short of inspiration at times this year, especially with limited scope for travel and lots of pressure to get piles of routine stuff done. There’s comfort in the familiar, and I’ve often found myself defaulting to set patterns of things to cook on each day of the week with staple ingredients.

What I love about Psalm 96, nestled among sets of familiar old stories with repeating themes about God’s unchanging nature, is that while God does remain the same, he can still be the inspiration for creativity, new songs, and that we’ve had thousands – millions? – of fresh expressions of worship over centuries where God and scripture have been constant.

How can this work? Looking into Psalm 96 gives me clues about God’s creative nature and how he shares it with us.

His “marvellous deeds” are one source of inspiration. God has done things which should make us react, not just with appreciation but awesome wonder. And he keeps doing them! We can think about big, historical things or just the things which have changed our lives personally. I think about how God has grown love and forgiveness in me and my family.

“Ascribe to the Lord glory” sounds to me like an encouragement to look at the most amazing things I’ve noticed going on or changing in and around me and look for where God seems to be at work, then give him the credit as worship. From the last week I can think of a dozen times I’ve learned something from reflecting with God on life as a father.

“Let the heavens… earth… sea… fields… trees… all creation rejoice” reminds me that while there is one God, his work impacts billions of us and far more around us. So if everything and each of us simply resonates authentically with what has made us marvel at and credit God’s deeds, that’s more new and different songs every day than we can count.

What did it show me about Father God, Jesus or the Holy Spirit?

God is the creator whose being and works can inspire fresh creativity forever. He gave us the ability to recognise him and process thoughts and feelings which can turn back into creative worship, if we look to shape them. God wants us to do this, enjoy his presence, appreciate his work and share his glory.

What am I going to do differently as a result?

I’ve been busy getting other creative work done but putting off expressing worship through new music for far too long. I’m reminded from this that I don’t necessarily need to learn more about music, songwriting or technology to break through a creative deadlock here, but I do need to reflect more on who God is, what I see him doing and how to express that.

Who am I going to share this with?

I’ll probably stew on this alone for a bit, but if anyone wants to work together, let’s chat!