Celebrating Our Faith with a Joyful Noise
When I go to my recently expanded pillbox, which I do twice each day, I don’t break into song about the prescriptions I am about to take. Quite the opposite in fact. But when I sit down in front of my television set, I can’t help but notice the growing number of prescription drug commercials that come with catchy jingles. The last thing I feel like doing when I prepare to swallow my pills is sing. Only in America would people celebrate prescription drugs through song.
When it comes to our faith, however, we are encouraged to rejoice by singing. Even if we don’t have a trained voice, we are invited to “make a joyful noise!” True, most Americans are not inclined to celebrate their faith this way, including me because I do not sing well at all.
Still, we are reminded to be joyful. For example, Psalm 95 invites us to “Sing for joy to the Lord” and to “Shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.” This is a message for us to be bold about our faith and not be reluctant to boast about our relationship with the Lord. Psalm 71 further encourages us to joyfully proclaim our faith with this passage in Verses 23-24: “My lips will shout for joy when I sing praise to you — I whom you have delivered. My tongue will tell of your righteous acts all day long.”
It is, indeed, not just acceptable, but also advisable to celebrate our faith with joy and thanksgiving. So don’t hold back. Let the Spirit move you, and raise your voice to the Lord!