He Put a New Song in My Mouth
He has put a new song in my mouth – Praise to our God; many will see it and fear, and will trust in the Lord.
-Psalm 40:3
Scripture teaches numerous times that the children of God are to sing a new song. In fact, Psalms declares six times that we are to praise the Lord by means of a new song. I find it useful to examine the meaning of scripture’s calling us to this particular expression.
First, and on a surface level, I believe we are right in interpreting the statement in a literal sense. We are to sing songs newly written for the sake of the church’s expression of praise to the Lord. This accomplishes at least two things: One, in exercising their creative capacities, songwriters reflect an attribute of God, namely, His creativity. The same creativity with which He wrought the sun and stars, feathers and leaves, and sunsets, oceans, mountains, fish, and all of creation is reflected in the composition of new material intended to call attention to His glorious character. Two, the Old Testament word for new carries the connotation of fresh. Singing new songs has a way of protecting us from engaging in rote liturgy and, to the contrary, promotes fresh perspectives that keep the church attuned to God’s ever-new and abundant mercies (Lamentations 3:23). As a believer grows in his understanding of God’s greatness, new songs are to be a natural means of expressing the satisfaction in and appreciation of God, and, further, help promote, by means of worship, growth and unity in the church body.
Our being called to sing a new song by no means stops there. New songs, in a biblical sense, flow only from new people. Did you sing before you came to faith in Christ?…the answer is, almost certainly, “Yes”. Did you sing hymns or choruses before your conversion? I know I did. Let me point out that these songs were neither new nor old based solely on the time they were written. Songs are essentially old when flowing from the mouth, and heart, of the old self. You see, what is subject to the Law isn’t new. If the motivation to sing is compulsion by a legalistic view of the Lord, much less for selfish indulgence in the aesthetic pleasures offered by the world, the result is an old song. The old covenant, the promises of which dealt with earthly ways and temporal benefits, induces an old song, and brings one to love, ultimately, the things of the world. However, a new song is the expression of one who has come, under a new covenant, to love heavenly things…of the church, which loves Him who has made us new.
Finally, this love, which produces a new song from the lips is inherently accompanied by a new song of the life. If one’s daily actions are not in tune with one’s declarations, the refrain is ultimately dissonant and, therefore, distasteful to the Lord. Our conduct must be congruent with our confessions in order to produce true worship, and the power by which we produce this new song is ultimately found only in Christ, who, for the sake of honoring the Father and redeeming the church, became, Himself, the New Song.
The scriptural emphasis this week is:
John 6:41-59
The song set is:
Your Grace is Enough
Acquitted
Here I am to Worship
Let My Words be Few
Always
From the Inside Out
Click HERE for a playlist of the songs.
