0495. A Threefold Song of Praise

A Threefold Song of Praise

"Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, ye righteous: and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart" (Psa_32:11).

How blessed is the joy that fills the heart of the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered, and to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity. How different is the "roaring of the bones," and, the "moisture of the lips," as seen in Psa_32:3 and Psa_32:4, to the "joy" and the "gladness" and the "rejoicing" of Psa_32:11.

One is at once reminded of the 53d chapter of Isaiah. The chapter opens, as does the 32d Psalm open, with a picture of hunger and thirsting, of no money for bread; then it passes on to the last verses, where we find joy and peace and singing and the clapping of hands. In the 32d Psalm we also pass from the anguish and bitterness of the first part, to the gladness and joy and rejoicing of the last part. This is all accomplished by passing through a little wicket gate, described in Psa_32:5. "I acknowledged my sins," "I confessed my transgressions," "mine iniquity have I not hid."

In Isaiah 55, we pass from the poverty and sighing of the first verse into the peace and singing of the last verse, by the same little wicket gate, seen in Isa_55:7 : "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon Him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon."

There is no need for any one to go about moping and grieving; filled with the spirit of bitterness. Our privilege is to rejoice. No circumstances and no condition, no persecutions, and no poverty can still the voice of praise in the heart of the man whose sin is hid and whose transgressions are forgiven.

The Apostle Paul sang in the Philippian jail, ‘mid surroundings conducive to sighing.

Madam Guyon, shut up in her prison cell, wrote:

"A little bird am I,

Shut in from fields of air,

And yet I sit and sing my song,

To Him Who placed me there."

Time and again in the Book of Philippians, does the Holy Spirit, say, "joy" and "rejoice." If our sins are forgiven, and if we are under the Blood, then, let us rejoice in the Lord.

Let those who upright are in heart,

Their happy anthem raise,

And rend the air with shouts of joy,

And everlasting praise.

Autor: R.E. NEIGHBOUR