¹Sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth. ²Sing to the Lord, bless His name; proclaim good tidings of His salvation from day to day.

Praise and worship are the ultimate purpose of our being created in God’s image. In a world of Christian pragmatism and a self-help approach to spirituality, this psalm sparkles with the lofty aspiration of our soul’s need to be God-centered, not only in all we do but in our verbal and emotional response to God. Some might ascribe to this psalm ethereal or esoteric activities for the mystics and super-spiritual among us, but the call is for all true God worshipers to settle for nothing less than what we were made for.

This psalm gives us sixteen ways to praise God (the count depends on which English translation is used). The heart of praise and worship, limited to human language, seeks an outlet in overlapping literary expressions. Here, we are encouraged to let loose with our praise to God, who is the source of and ultimate fulfillment of all earthly joy.

We comment hesitantly, knowing we run the danger of diminishing the beauty and power of what we read in this psalm’s biblical, poetical language. Hopefully, some analysis will be helpful. The calls of this psalm come in the form of imperatives, that is, invitations that give substance to our praise.

We are invited to Sing a new song to the Lord (vs. 1a). The tone is not one of a dirge but of joy. Worship and praise always carry the sense of renewal; the reality of sin and rebellion is never distant past, for we are to daily walk in turning back to God. We miss the point if we assert that new tunes and words must be constantly composed, although we recognize that new ways of expressing our praise continuously rise up super-naturally as the expression of our souls. The “new song” is not about style or wording but about the continuous renewal of our spirits.

This call to Sing (vs. 1b) extends not just to believers (i.e., God’s people) but to all people (“all the earth”), to all God’s image-bearers (even those who are still in their rebellious state, who have not yet repented and turned to Him).

This singing carries the purpose of blessing the Lord, that is, Yahweh (vs. 2a). To bless God’s name means to bring joy and pleasure to Him. His name means He is with us in a very real and active way for our needs. And we bless Him when we recognize and confess that He is the one and only true God who is living and involved in the world, unlike other so-called gods.

We are invited to Proclaim the good news of God’s salvation (vs. 2b). Our relationship with Him does not arise in a vacuum, as sinless beings who never rebelled, but from the understanding that we have been saved. Indeed, we sing a new song because we have been redeemed.

What we Proclaim, we Tell (vs. 3a). Do not confuse as insignificant redundance what the psalm emphasizes poetically. Verses 3-6 expand on the content of what we are to tell in our proclamation. We are privileged to tell others who are not yet believers about how great and glorious our God is. While we are called to praise God as a direct action to Him, we extend this to praising Him in a direct action to other people. In other words, we proclaim God by praising Him to other people. The content of what we say includes His glory (enhancing His excellent reputation to others). We tell others of the great things He has done and that He is not to be trifled with. We speak of His splendor, majesty, strength, and beauty. Such wording sounds strange to modern ears, but this can also be conveyed in more contemporary words. We talk about how amazing He is, not only with our specific words but by the whole tenor of our lives—the God we believe in is truly unique, one of a kind. There is no God like our God!

The psalmist gets carried away, and rightly so. We are invited to Ascribe, or as some translations render it, Give, to the Lord (vs. 7a). Three times, the word is used, followed by a call to Bring an offering (vs. 8b). A four-fold emphasis on giving back to God gives tangible expression to our praise. As King David said, “I will not offer … to the Lord my God which cost me nothing.” (2 Sam. 24:24). We bring the verbal sacrifice of praise when we praise God for His glory and strength (see also Psalm 29:1-2 for a similar call to praise). Why is that a sacrifice? Because praising God means sacrificing our ego and desire to be the center of praise. This is difficult for us when we are fleshly-minded, especially when we praise God in community (“O, families of the peoples”). And we bring the tangible sacrifice of our offerings to the Lord. While today, we don’t bring animals and crops as the Jews did in their agricultural context, we can bring offerings of our time and resources for the Lord’s work.

Coming to God in worship involves intentionality in every area of life, symbolized by our fashion choices (vs. 9). This transgresses into legalism if certain outward appearances are mandated. Yes, God is indeed our Father, Jesus is “not ashamed” to call us His brothers (Heb. 2:11), and our Lord judges the inner person and not according to our outward appearance (1 Sam 16:7). Yet, we must acknowledge that even in family situations we set aside casual attire and “dress up” for weddings, funerals, and special celebrations. Worship is when the spiritual family comes together to celebrate God. While the psalm’s application goes beyond wearing special, holy clothes, it extends to the holiness of our attitude. Styles change from generation to generation of what outward apparel corresponds to “the splendor of holiness” (as translated in the ESV and NIV, or “the beauty of holiness” NKJV), and we must be careful not to judge others on this matter. We must admit, though, that the use of such illustrious language begs consideration of the personal presentation of ourselves to God, who is holy.

After all, to see God in His holy attire should cause us to Tremble, which adds to our praise in the form of acknowledging our fear before Him (see vs. 4). Again, we say, God is not to be trifled with; we dare not waltz into His presence in worship as though it were just a casual “pick-me-up” or “spiritual pep rally.”

The psalm now rejoins the previous invitation to Proclaim and Tell by inviting us to Say (vs. 10). We are to tell the whole world about God; this brings praise to Him. Our message is about the sovereignty of God as the authority and judge who reigns over all the earth. In short, our Lord is in control and will be the final judge of the world’s people.

Therefore, the psalm concludes using common metaphors, ascribing human characteristics to nature. Four invitations to praise begin with Let and convey that all creation exists for the praise of God: the heavens/joyful, earth/rejoice, sea and aquatic creatures/exult, field and trees/joy (vss. 11-12). If the inanimate nature exists to praise the Lord, how much more do we who are created in God’s image?

The call to praise God in all these sixteen ways is preparation for the Lord’s return. Worship is our repeated and continuous effort to raise us to a higher level as we live in this fallen world. What began in the Garden of Eden and God’s promise to bring judgment on sin will come full circle. And God will exercise complete righteousness (vs. 13) and reward those who have faithfully praised Him by their words and lives. How can we not sing a new song to the Lord in anticipating His return?

Lord, please accept my praise and help me grow in the splendor of holiness and what that means.