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Hear the devotional: https://anchor.fm/eradio-valverde/episodes/Sing-a-New-Song-to-God-e1sj480
1 O sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth! 2 Sing to the LORD, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day. 3 Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples! 4 For great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; he is to be feared above all gods. 5 For all the gods of the peoples are idols; but the LORD made the heavens. 6 Honor and majesty are before him; strength and beauty are in his sanctuary. 7 Ascribe to the LORD, O families of the peoples, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength! 8 Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; bring an offering, and come into his courts! 9 Worship the LORD in holy array; tremble before him, all the earth! 10 Say among the nations, "The LORD reigns! Yea, the world is established, it shall never be moved; he will judge the peoples with equity." 11 Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; let the sea roar, and all that fills it; 12 let the field exult, and everything in it! Then shall all the trees of the wood sing for joy 13 before the LORD, for he comes, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with his truth. (Psalm 96 Revised Standard Version Bible)
I don't know the exact start date for Christmas music, but I love the music for this time of year. I have two playlists on my iPhone called Baby Jesus Birthday 1 and 1 1. (Don't ask me how I came to number those; I"m lucky I know how to turn on my phone and know how to play music on it!). What's embarrassing is that both lists have almost the same music with my 1 1 list having some more modern songs of Christmas. One of these days I will make time to once and for all, make two distinct lists or one big comprehensive playlist. I'll say again, I love Christmas music and I dread the day when it's frowned upon to play. I consider the 6th of January as the end date for Christmas music, but some music streams go a bit longer in offering music about this time of season. When I used to have SiriusXM, the Xmas playlists end on that certain date and the channel is empty after that. But I truly believe music is very important for this time of year. We just read where the shepherds were treated to a Heavenly choir cantata that praised God for this awesome birth that we call The Main Event. I can only vaguely imagine what that concert was like for those shepherds. I do imagine after they gushed about it to each other as soon as they got home they could not find the words to tell their wives about what they had seen. "Honey. Music from Heaven! Angels were singing. I was like with my mouth wide open and baby was born!" Singing is an awesome thing. I thank God I grew up in a church where they loved to sing, and to have a dad who loved to sing and was brave enough to sing solos from time to time in worship. And I love so many hymns and worship songs that I never tire of using them as instruments or means of grace with which to praise God.
The psalmist loved to sing. He also loved to write songs and to use songs to praise God. As the wise have said, "Singing is praying twice," and he might have been the one who made that up to begin with. And his belief is that our praise to God should be new and fresh as often as we do it. His idea of a new song as this psalm begins is to say, "God is worthy of new things and so we should find new ways to praise God!" Out with the stale and the dusty ways of praising God, do it in a new way that pleases God! Compare that to giving your significant other a gift as a way to tell them again, I love you. Would you go into that person's closet, find a garment of clothing you gave to them and then give it to them again and say, "I love you so much that I'm giving you this that I gave you two years ago!" Or, to give them a dusty gift that was given to you and you never really cared about it and now you're giving it to your love, how would that go over?
How do you tell God that You love Him, and thank Him for the birth of His Son, Jesus Christ? How do you thank Him for giving you eternal life and a life freed from sin? You would, as the psalmist said, "O sing to the Lord a new song," and let all the earth join in. This is the time for our joining hands, hearts, and voices in praising God in fresh, new, heartfelt ways that tells those who don't yet know God, that we are in love with God because God first loved us!
PRAYER: Loving God, may all our songs of praise be worthy of Your grace, for all You have done for us; may our worship of You never end and may each time we do sing Your praises invited others to join in. This we pray in Christ Jesus' name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord! YOUR CALL TO ACTION: Find a time when you can sing loudly and joyfully, a song of praise to God for all God has done for you!
Receive my blessings of joy and love,
Pastor Eradio Valverde, Jr.
Prayers for Peggy, Mr Clay Pace's sister, who some time back underwent cancer surgery and now she has an appointment with a radiologist and chemotherapist next week as they may have concerns there may be some cancer cells floating around her body after the surgery she had a couple weeks ago. Please pray for those appointments and for the health of Peggy.
