What joy! What delight! There is shouting and singing because of how great God is and how great are the things He has done and continues to do. There is thanksgiving to God because His Word is reliable and true. There is confidence in the future because God loves righteousness and justice and will not abandon those in need. His love endures and remains steadfast.
I get excited, shout, high-five, fist-bump and jump in the air when the Steelers win a Super Bowl, the Penguins a Stanley Cup or the Pirates a World Series. How much more should I get exuberant when I see the work or the Lord or hear the declaration of His Word? It is true what Jesus says that far too often we as a people are lukewarm to the things of God. If I really meditated on who God is and what He has done in my life, then I could rejoice always and in all situations we Paul urges us to.
Shout for joy in the Lord, O you righteous!
Praise befits the upright.
2 Give thanks to the Lord with the lyre;
make melody to him with the harp of ten strings!
3 Sing to him a new song;
play skillfully on the strings, with loud shouts.
4 For the word of the Lord is upright,
and all his work is done in faithfulness.
5 He loves righteousness and justice;
the earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord.
6 By the word of the Lord the heavens were made,
and by the breath of his mouth all their host.
7 He gathers the waters of the sea as a heap;
he puts the deeps in storehouses.
8 Let all the earth fear the Lord;
let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him!
9 For he spoke, and it came to be;
he commanded, and it stood firm.
10 The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing;
he frustrates the plans of the peoples.
11 The counsel of the Lord stands forever,
the plans of his heart to all generations.
12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord,
the people whom he has chosen as his heritage!
Dan Lacich: Provocative Christian Living 