Psalm 149 - Tambourine and Harp

Read: Psalm 149 vs 1-9

Today as we come to Psalm 149 you would imagine that all that could be said has already been said, all that has been sung, already sung. However this psalm begins with an invitation to ‘Sing to the LORD a new song’.

What more is there to sing, how can there still be new words to find, and new melodies to create in praise of God? The inexhaustible nature of praise to God is a theme that runs through the Bible. When writing his gospel account, a carefully shaped and thoughtfully produced book, the ageing apostle ends by noting this:

‘Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.’

John’s sense is that Jesus did so much, and there are so many angles to telling the stories of who He was and what he did that you just couldn’t write it all down. 

So while the call to sing ‘a new song’ runs through the psalms (Psalm 33, 40, 96, 98, 144, 149) it is also something we see at the very end of time, as God’s faithful people sing new songs to Him in heaven itself (5:9, 14:3). Isn’t it an amazing thought to imagine those who have lived and finished the life of faith, gathering in heaven, preparing to sing before God’s throne, and the song is one that none of them have sung before; it is a new song. Even in the new creation we will be learning new words that give expression to the inexpressible. There is an exuberance about Psalm 149; dancing, tambourine, harp, a praise that the LORD ‘delights in’ (vs 4). So faithful people, in all generations, sing with joy; ‘Praise the LORD.’