Psalm 89:15 Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you,
who walk in the light of your presence, O LORD.

The NIV is a reasonable rendering, but a more literal translation is “those who know the shout of joy.” In other words, this is talking about people who know to praise God, and who know how to praise God. Praise and worship of God is fundamentally a very joyful thing, and it can get loud! The Old Testament actually speaks many times of the “shout of joy,” most often in Psalms but also many times in Isaiah, and a few times in Jeremiah. How often do we get so joyful we can’t help but shout? That’s not at all to say that all worship should be loud, but it is certainly to say that not all worship is to be quiet! We are created as emotional beings, and that’s a good thing. I don’t know if emotions are specifically part of our being created in God’s image, (Genesis 1:27) but it well could be. We aren’t to be whipped around by our emotions (which can happen all too easily) but we aren’t to be afraid of them either. If we try to make our experience of God devoid of emotion, then it is lifeless indeed. The better we know God, the deeper our gratitude and the greater and deeper our joy.

I remember one time when God was really touching people in a church in Kumamoto, a few hours south of where I grew up in Fuku­oka. A seminary student who attended our church went down to investigate, and my mother was horrified when he came back. Why, he was actually hoarse from shouting so much! Her personal preference was for the quiet majesty of the cathedrals we had visited in Europe back in 1959. She was a strong Christian, but she didn’t learn the joy of abandonment in praise, and she had trouble understanding my involvement with the Charismatic Movement. Remembering that, I have tried not to force particular styles of worship onto people, but I do encourage them to express worship with all they are. We run the gamut in this church, with people who are very expressive and some who hardly move. I am not to value noise over substance. In prayer, for example, I need to remember, and teach, that God is not deaf, but neither is He nervous. We don’t have to be loud, but we shouldn’t be afraid to make noise either. When people get so enthused, and loud, over sports events they shouldn’t hesitate to be enthusiastic about God! My task is to communicate that without putting people down who are like my mother was, so that we may all worship together in spirit and in truth.

Father, thank You for this Word. It really pulls together what You have said recently about praise. Help me be properly prepared to deliver this Word in Your timing, so that it may communicate as You want it to. May we be a praying people, a praising people, a worshiping people, in full obedience to You, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!