Joyful Praise! - Psalm 63:3-5,7,11 Series

Review

So far we have studied six ways to love God more. In this lesson we examine number seven – express your joy. If you want to have more love for God, more desire for Him, more delight in Him; then verbally express the love and desire and delight you already have. Or to say all that in a single word: Praise.

Praise is Joy

David talks more about praise in Ps.63 that about any other subject. Even though he is miserable, he is in the desert, he is dry, thirsty, and weary, still the consuming topic on his mind more than anything else is joyful praise.

3 Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you.

4 Therefore I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands.

5b …with singing lips my mouth will praise you.

7b … I sing in the shadow of your wings.

11 the king will rejoice in God; all who swear by God's name will praise him

In the last lesson we found that all praise is joyful praise. I want to take some time in this lesson to convince you of that, because it took me a while to be convinced of it, and I suspect a lot of you are like me. As I look back on my life and all the things I have offered God as praise, most of it was more of a discipline than a genuine expression of joy. There have been countless times in my life when I have spoken or sung words of praise while feeling very little if any joy. The words were pushed out of my mouth not by an overflow of joy in the Lord, but by an act of resolve and duty. So many times I have sung songs of happiness in the Lord without being very happy at all. And what I am suggesting is that it is questionable whether that kind of thing can actually be called praise. If there is no joy behind your praise, it is not praise.

In Ps.63 David uses 5 different words for praise in 5 verses.

The word glorify in v.3 is ?????? shabach (to commend, praise or extol)

The word praise in v.4 is ??????? barak (to bless)

The word praise in vv.5 and 11 is ????? halal. It means to boast or to shout for joy (BDB). Halal without happiness is a contradiction in terms – there just is no such thing. The word only refers to joyful shouting or sinigng.

Ps.78:63 (in a time of judgment) their maidens had no wedding songs (halal)

1 Chrn.16:10 Glory (halal) in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice. (That is parallelism –the same thing stated in two slightly different ways. “Praise Him. In other words, rejoice.”)

2 Chrn.20:19 Then some Levites … stood up and praised the LORD, the God of Israel, with very loud voice. (The volume demonstrates emotion.)

Then in v.11 he uses the word ?????? samach (translated rejoice). That word is all about joy. It means to take pleasure in, to rejoice, to have mirth, to be glad, to be happy.

And it is amazing how often it appears as a command. In Dt.12 God is giving the rules about burnt offerings.

Dt.12:7 you and your families shall eat and shall rejoice in everything you have put your hand to

11 bring everything I command you: … 12 And there rejoice before the LORD your God

18 you are to eat them in the presence of the LORD your God … and you are to rejoice before the LORD your God

There are literally dozens more examples throughout the Old Testament. (You can see why God was so angry with the priests in Mal.1 who were offering all the prescribed offerings but they were saying, “What a burden.” They were in violation of this command big time. God will not be worshipped or served that way.) When God says, “Have a nice day” it comes in the imperative mood.

And there’s one more word David uses in Ps.63. The word translated “singing” in v.5 is a word that means to sing or shout for joy. It never means to just sing.

The verb form of the same word appears in v.7.

7b … I sing in the shadow of your wings.

??????? (noun – v.5)

????? (verb – v.7)

Lv.9:24 when all the people saw it, they shouted for joy and fell facedown.

1 Chrn.16:33 Then the trees of the forest will shout for joy before the LORD

David uses all 5 of those terms in 5 verses. He is making a powerful statement in this psalm about praise. Praise that is honoring to God is praise that comes from powerful joy - joy so powerful that it causes words and songs and shouts to come out of your mouth. If you have a lot of joy in your heart but it doesn’t seem to make it out of your mouth, that is not powerful enough joy. In fact, it should not only open your mouth; it should get your body moving too.