“Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise from the end of the earth, you who go down to the sea, and all that fills it, the coastlands and their inhabitants.” Isaiah 42:10 ESV
Reflection: when is it right to give praise to the Lord?
Last weekend, we had a poor service experience. The company we visited asked me for feedback from our visit, and I decided to provide some thoughts on their request. I tried to be generous and fair with my feedback, to make it as helpful as I could. And, I was impressed when the manager reached back out to me again based on my feedback, wanting to have a conversation about what happened. The manager seemed at first interested and appreciative of my comments. But as we got into it, the manager started defending their actions. Explaining their side of the story. And, at the end of the conversation, basically said “thank you” for my feedback, and that they would try better at our next visit. But she really left me feeling a bit confused, perhaps empty. One the one hand, she said she was very thankful, very appreciate, that my time was valuable, but what in her action demonstrated that to me? The manager knew we were from out of state, so her proposal to demonstrate better service next time was impractical. So, question is, was she giving me “lip service”, or was she actually grateful?
What does that mean anyway, to be grateful?
The dictionary actually has multiple definitions for being grateful, reflecting something deeper than just expressing words of thanks. More than “lip service”. It is an attitude of the heart, being appreciative towards others, something we can sense that is beyond the words. We can tell when people are truly grateful for something. We understand that it is coming from the heart. You might remember Jesus challenging the religious leaders on this exact issue, “And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, “‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me;” Mark 7:6 ESV.
And the Lord hates hypocrisy. He hates lip service.
In today’s focus verse from Isaiah, we read “Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise from the end of the earth, you who go down to the sea, and all that fills it, the coastlands and their inhabitants.” Isaiah 42:10 ESV. It is a “new song” of praise to the Lord, for His plan, His victory, even before it had been fulfilled. In the previous section of Isaiah, we were just introduced to God’s plan for salvation through God’s Messiah, Jesus Christ. “Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations.” Isaiah 42:1 ESV. And of His servant Jesus He says ““I am the Lord; I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you; I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness.” Isaiah 42:6-7 ESV.
And, because the Lord spoke it, He will watch over His word to do it, as He says “The Lord goes out like a mighty man, like a man of war he stirs up his zeal; he cries out, he shouts aloud, he shows himself mighty against his foes. For a long time I have held my peace; I have kept still and restrained myself; now I will cry out like a woman in labor; I will gasp and pant. I will lay waste mountains and hills, and dry up all their vegetation; I will turn the rivers into islands, and dry up the pools. And I will lead the blind in a way that they do not know, in paths that they have not known I will guide them. I will turn the darkness before them into light, the rough places into level ground. These are the things I do, and I do not forsake them.” Isaiah 42:13-16 ESV. Did you notice the Lord Himself is actively doing, that He is in the battle? He is not sitting back, not resting, but leading and guiding His people to victory.
The more we seek to understand all that He has done, and is doing for us, through us, the more our hearts are filled with joy and gratitude. And, when you think about it, a grateful heart is pretty contagious when you run into one. Genuine gratitude shows in everything they are and do, even in their demeanor. Not much “preaching” is necessary. Likewise, we can generally spot a fake, someone only giving us “lip service”. If we can, certainly the Lord can as well, who judges the motives of the heart. So if you are grateful to the Lord, let’s join with generations and multitudes before us, singing a “new song” of praise to the Lord God, for His marvelous works, fulfilled in Jesus Christ, that we get to walk in.
