Choose JoySample

DAY 49 - SINGING FOR JOY IN BED?

Reflection: This penultimate psalm begins with the Hebrew phrase hallelu Yah, or our word of praise now common to many languages, hallelujah. It means to shine, sing, praise, and boast of Yahweh. And the psalm continues as just that, a song of praise to God.

It reminds us that before we even begin to sing our joyful songs, God is already enjoying, taking joy, delighting in his people (vs 4). It's as if when we take up instruments and begin to sing, God has already begun singing over us, such is his love for his 'faithful people', redeemed and 'hidden' in his Son.

There's a slightly unusual reference to joy in this psalm, the encouragement that God's people 'sing for joy on their beds'. Well, why not, we say, but it's perhaps not the most convenient place to be launching into song.

But for the writer of this psalm, the bed or mishkab is perhaps not to be taken too literally, but to be seen as symbolic of aspects of our life where praise belongs. The psalmist is telling us that praise can be a part of our rest and restoration, with us when we are sick and full of sorrow, part of intimacy and relationship, and central to our times of thinking, pondering, dreaming, and planning.

It's interesting that the psalm concludes with a picture of God's people with a joyful song of praise in their mouths and a double-edged sword in their hands, as they defeat their enemies. In other words, we find victory when our mouths are full of the goodness and delight of God, and our hands are full of God's divine intervention, which we know to be the word of God (Heb 4:12).

What a great image of the joy-strengthened life to fill our minds, as we near the end of our 50 days of choosing joy.

Choose joy: To make God's joy the feature of your life, fill your mouth with praise, which means there's not room for those things that drag us down. And get God's word in your hand, every day.