There Did We Rejoice

“Shout for joy to God, all the earth;
    sing the glory of his name;
    give to him glorious praise!
Say to God, ‘How awesome are your deeds!
    So great is your power that your enemies come cringing to you.
All the earth worships you
    and sings praises to you;
    they sing praises to your name.’

Come and see what God has done:
    he is awesome in his deeds toward the children of man.
He turned the sea into dry land;
    they passed through the river on foot.
There did we rejoice in him,
    who rules by his might forever,
whose eyes keep watch on the nations… 

Bless our God, O peoples;
    let the sound of his praise be heard,
who has kept our soul among the living
    and has not let our feet slip.
For you, O God, have tested us;
    you have tried us as silver is tried.
You brought us into the net;
    you laid a crushing burden on our backs;
you let men ride over our heads;
    we went through fire and through water;
yet you have brought us out to a place of abundance.

I will come into your house with burnt offerings;
    I will perform my vows to you,
that which my lips uttered
    and my mouth promised when I was in trouble.
I will offer to you burnt offerings…
    with sacrifice;
I will make an offering...

Come and hear, all you who fear God,
    and I will tell what he has done for my soul.
I cried to him with my mouth,
    and high praise was on my tongue. If I had cherished iniquity in my heart,
    the Lord would not have listened.
But truly God has listened;
    he has attended to the voice of my prayer.

Blessed be God,
    because he has not rejected my prayer
    or removed his steadfast love from me!” Psalm 66

To the choirmaster. A Song. A Psalm. The header note on this piece, tucked into Scripture’s poetry, draws the whole self upward. Festive, joyful singing rings out to the awesome God worthy of glorious praise. This rmelody flows naturally and robustly from considering what He has done, manifold eternal works that punctuate man’s present. ‘We rejoiced then, we shall rejoice now.’ Sea made dry, steadiness in turmoil, tested to refinement, burdened and carried- God’s steadfast love attends His own.

The beautiful rhythm of rejoicing issues forth from wonder and gratitude. Rather than focus on the impossible, the weight, the tension, the fire, a glad heart looks deeper and beyond to the divine orchestration of all things. While the setting and setup can be ominous, God’s presence, deliverance, and accomplishments in and through the midst are glorious.

What is my mental preponderance? Fretting over today or tomorrow, or recounting God’s faithfulness that has led thus far? How attuned am I to the wonders, deliverances, provisions I’ve enjoyed at God’s good hand?

How will we practically implement rejoicing? When reading Scripture, dated, noted comments remind us of the Lord’s inspiration and interventions of the past. Voicing psalms and other biblical praises and prayers in first person tunes our hearts to His perfect pitch. Mutually recounting with others how God has helped and revealed Himself stimulates gratitude. Will we today take part?

Lord, may past rejoicing continue forever, to Your glory.