Key Events / Passages in today’s reading:

• Darkness is my only friend (Psalm 88)
• Teach us to number our days (Psalm 90)
• Sing a new song (Psalm 96)
• Make a joyful noise (Psalm 100)
• Bless the Lord, O my soul (Psalm 103)

Verse that stood out: Sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth – Psalm 96:1

Have you sung a new song to the Lord today? I don’t necessarily mean a song you’ve never heard before. I’m not even sure that’s what the Psalmist means either. I mean, have you sung to the Lord anew, today? Has praise ushered forth from your lips in a fresh way? That may involve singing a song for the very first time. It may simply mean singing an old hymn with sincerity. For every fresh singing is in some way, a new song.

God, in his splendor, is worthy of more than rehashed, recycled praise. God grants us his mercies new every morning (Lamentations 3:22-23), surely our worship should remain fresh, as well. No leaning on yesterday’s songs. That’s a sure path to dead worship. Just think of the husband who decides that he’s told his wife he loved her in the past so that there’s now no need to waste his breath repeating the same three words over and over again. Not the best way to keep the relationship alive. For his sake and his wife’s, he needs to keep saying those simple words with fresh sincerity. And it wouldn’t hurt, if he found some other words with which to convey the same ideas in creative ways.

The same is true for our relationship with God. Each day our worship must start anew, even if it borrows from ancient sources. We really can sing the same song everyday and have it be new, if each singing comes from a fresh experience of God’s presence. There are times, though, when finding a new song, as in a song we’ve never heard before, can indeed help us communicate anew our love for God.

What sources have you found for singing some new songs (or some old songs afresh) to the Lord?