With Joyful Praise, Shout To The Lord

Come, everyone! Clap your hands! Shout to God with joyful praise! Psalm 47:1

The Psalms revolve around three major themes: thanksgiving, praise, and joy. Two of which we find highlighted in Psalm 47. This Psalm urges us to offer shouts of joyful praise to God.

In many Sunday morning services, worshiping God has evolved into a solemn, quiet, traditional ritual. According to the Psalmist, reverence for God can and should involve our emotions.

Each Sunday in my childhood, I attended a quiet, conservative, mainline church that never celebrated. At least, not with the definition commonly associated with the word ‘celebration’.

Even today, we want people to feel comfortable when they attend church. We include disclaimers in our church bulletins saying you can stand, raise your hands, or clap if you want.

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I’m not putting down the way anyone worships. I guess I’m comparing what our church services looked like in my childhood to what the Bible says. The Psalmist offered an emotional invitation.

He said, Come, everyone! That exclamation mark means to emphasize a point or to express strong emotion or surprise. If a person stands before a crowd and says that, he has their attention.

Once he had their attention, he led them into a form of non-verbal worship. Clap your hands!

Don’t applaud for God. The worthiness of our Lord extends beyond our applause for Him.

We may not play an instrument, but we can all clap our hands. The Psalmist went on to say, Shout to God with joyful praise! He used the word ‘shout’ twice in this chapter.

In this first verse, he doesn’t tell us to shout at God but to shout to Him. The definition of shouting means uttering a loud call or cry, typically as an expression of a strong emotion.

Offer Joyful Praise to the Lord

Years ago, we ministered at three churches in Jamaica. Their services represented a blend of contemporary and traditional styles. They had an interesting way of expressing praise to God.

The worship leader or pastor would say, “Shall we praise the Lord?” The congregation responded with, “Praise the Lord.” A second time, “Shall we praise the Lord again?” “Praise the Lord.”

So, the Psalmist said to offer joyful praise to the Lord. Why? Well, he gave us a couple of reasons why. He couldn’t possibly list all the reasons why God should receive our joyful praise.

For the Lord Most High is awesome.
He is the great King of all the earth.
He subdues the nations before us,
putting our enemies beneath our feet. Psalm 47:2-3

In verse five, the Psalmist used the word shout a second time. This time, he didn’t invite his readers to shout. Instead, he reported that this time the shout came because of God.

God has ascended with a mighty shout. The Lord has ascended with trumpets blaring. Psalm 47:5

When God comes, He comes with a shout. The trumpets didn’t just play, they blared. Verse 5 doesn’t mention spectators, but in verse 6, he invited everyone to sing joyful praise together.

Sing praises to God, sing praises; sing praises to our King, sing praises! Psalm 47:6

Verses 2 and 3 list some reasons for everyone to sing joyful praise. Verse 6 instructs us to sing praises to God four times. Followed by verses 7 and 8, which provide additional reasons to do so.

For God is the King over all the earth. Praise him with a psalm.
God reigns above the nations, sitting on his holy throne. Psalm 47:7-8

God Reigns Over All the Earth

This Psalm celebrates God’s reign as the King over all the earth. It emphasizes his sovereignty and the joyful response of praise throughout all the nations. Hence, he said everybody come!

The rulers of the world have gathered together with the people of the God of Abraham. For all the kings of the earth belong to God. He is highly honored everywhere. Psalm 47:9

We don’t know when these words delivered to us by the Psalmist will come to pass. We know that before Christ raptures the church, there will be a shout and the sound of a trumpet.

Also, we know that during the Millennium, all the kings of the earth will sing joyful praise to Him. Therefore, we shouldn’t wait for a joyful event to start singing and shouting His praise.

Let’s prepare ourselves by allowing God’s Spirit to move us in those directions now. Throughout the Psalms, we can find examples of the three major themes of thanksgiving, praise, and joy.

Sing to the Lord, all you godly ones! Praise his holy name. Psalm 30:4
For this, O Lord, I will praise you among the nations; I will sing praises to your name. Psalm 18:49
Shout joyful praises to God, all the earth! Psalm 66
How the king rejoices in your strength, O Lord! He shouts with joyful praise because you give him victory. Psalm 21
But let all who take refuge in you rejoice; let them sing joyful praises forever. Psalm 5:11

Do you hear the Psalmist calling? Come, everyone! Clap your hands! Shout to God with joyful praise! Ok, I realize your upbringing may cause you some discomfort of worshiping that way.

We Will Shout Joyful Praise in Heaven

But as I read the end of the book, we will not sit quietly on pews in heaven.

Then I heard again what sounded like the shout of a vast crowd or the roar of mighty ocean waves or the crash of loud thunder. “Praise the Lord! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns. Let us be glad and rejoice, and let us give honor to him. Revelation 19:6-7

Lord, we will answer your call to clap our hands and shout joyful praise unto your name. Stir our hearts so we are ready when the events written in this Psalm come to pass.

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