Joy needs more than words for its expression. The jubilant praise psalms encourage us to go beyond verbal expressions to express our joy. The psalms themselves were never meant to be verbal expressions alone. They were written as songs to be sung and to be accompanied by musical instruments. We are not just exhorted to praise God in the psalms; we are exhorted again and again to sing praise to God, and we are encouraged to use instruments to amplify the expression of our emotions. The oft-repeated imperative to “rejoice” and “praise the LORD” in the psalms is not meant to be a statement of religious obligation. It is an invitation to maximise enjoyment by letting the flow of joy intensify through outward expression. If the outflow of joy is inhibited, it clots like blood and stops flowing. Joy must be expressed in order to be perpetuated. We are encouraged, therefore, to celebrate who God is and what he has done for us. Celebration is an act of enjoyment, that is, an act by which we seek to perpetuate joy. And of course to praise God we need other people to praise God to and to celebrate God with. It seems that the deepest emotions of the heart demand a communal expression to achieve expressive satisfaction. These deep, emotional experiences seem to access the deepest places of our souls where our sense of commonality and kinship with others lies. It is the case with grief, and it is the case with joy. If it isn’t shared, it feels like it is being suppressed. Praise God with every expressive capacity you have.
Reflect on what God has done for you and give thanks to him.
Read Psalm 150
