Day 170, or June the 19th. Always be relevant. Our thoughts today are rooted in Psalm 98,
verse 1. Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous things, his right hand
and his holy arm have worked salvation for him.
And now the big picture surrounding this verse. Today's selection of Psalms includes another
two, which were written by David, and a further four that are anonymous. Most of these songs
aim at improving our worship. Sing a new song, exalt the Lord, serve the Lord, live a holy
life, always pray, and bless the Lord, all you people. This is helpful guidance to worshipping
God as he deserves, and keeps our worship both refreshing and relevant. Our thoughts
today focus on one part of one of these anonymous ones.
And now our action step for today. I remember a Methodist minister friend of mine who said
that in years gone by so many churches from his denomination were split over the issue
of godless pipe organs, which were being used in order to make the most of some of the great
Wesley hymns. Then later, when these same organs were being removed as irrelevant, old-fashioned,
and expensive to maintain, many churches split over losing such a great aid to worship. Sadly,
so many fellowships have disputes over music. Today's psalm urges us to sing a new song
to the Lord. I don't believe this means instead of the old ones, but it does seem to tell
us that one of the most traditional groups in the world, the Jews, still wanted to find
something new to improve their worship of God. Many hymns today reflect a bygone age,
and are basically out of date, but some of the new ones are so shallow as to be almost
worthless. When we are urged to sing a new song, I believe it's reasonable to take it
as a reminder to be as contemporary as possible in order to attract all who need to hear the
gospel. The gospel hasn't changed, but the way it is proclaimed has. So always be sensitive
to change, but make it change the way living, not change to announce dying.