Sing a New Song

Meditations for Ragamuffins

August 15, 2023

Sing a New Song 

Sing a new song of praise to him;

    play skillfully on the harp, and sing with joy.

Psalm 33:3

As you begin this meditation, take a few moments to remember the events and happenings in your life over the last few weeks. As you remember your experiences or happenings, what gladdened your heart?

Did your experiences that gladden your heart include the joy of being able to pray, “Abba, I belong to you”? Do you remember your joy of being able to worship and study with a community of faith? How about the time you spent alone with God and your Bible, or opportunities you had to serve God in a caring, compassionate ministry, or just being a kind and compassionate friend?

What about the things that saddened you in the last few weeks. Do you recall your concern that you don’t make enough quality time for prayer and devotional reading? Were there times of spiritual laziness and moral laxity that are grieving you? Jesus’ last commandment was for his followers to love others as he loved them. Were you saddened over your lack of fidelity to this command of Jesus?

My Takeaway: First, the only way I can process my responses to this exercise is to remember, “So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). If you are like me, you may not be all that pleased with yourself after this exercise. We do exercises like this because Ludwig Wittgenstein was right when he said, 'Nothing is so difficult as not deceiving oneself. ' We need to hold ourselves accountable to Jesus.

Even so, I can sing a new song of praise to my Abba, and I can sing with joy because first, last and always, I know I belong to Abba.

So can you!

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

 

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com.

 

Copyright © 2023 by Alex M. Knight

 

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.