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Psalm 33 - Sing joyfully to the LORD

Psalm 33

 Sing joyfully to the LORD

 Introduction
Psalm 33 is a worship Psalm written by David.

Summary
v1-3 Call to worship
v4-9 God is worthy because of creation
v10-22 God is worthy because He is our only hope in salvation and eternal life

Call to worship
David opens the Psalm calling the reader to sing joyfully to God, for it is fitting for the upright to praise Him. Naturally, a corrupt person will not praise God for God only has judgement reserved for him, but the upright should praise God because of His covenant with us.

Why sing?
As far as my knowledge goes, singing / musical worship is not a doctrinal "must". However, the act of worship and praise is best expressed in singing and musical worship - and God has already given us talent in having the capability to do so. Given this talent by God, it is only correct for us to return it to Him in this manner.

The LORD loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of His unfailing love
Note the use of the semicolon in the line (directly quoted from the Bible). This is the opener to the section where God made the world. The LORD loves righteousness and justice - therefore the earth is full of His unfailing love. As creator, He made something He loved. Many things we see in this world reflect God's goodness - be it creation itself, the beauty of nature, the law and order of society... But at the same time, they reflect the corruption that man has brought into the world.

The main point of this section is this - as Creator, God is worthy of all praise. For not only He created, He created it good. Many things we know God has done in excessive love for us. Creation in itself is one of them.

But the plans of the LORD stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations
This is actually one more reason in itself, that I didn't label a section of its own. Here we realise God is eternal, whereas we, temporal. Often we find ourselves trying to make the Bible "relevant" - but there's no need to. The Bible is God's eternal revelation; it is perfect as it is for all times.

No king is saved by the size of his army... But the eyes of the LORD are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love
This is the other key point - that God is our only hope for salvation, for deliverance from death. Think about how the ancient Egyptians used to bury(?) entire armies with their Pharoahs to serve them even in the "afterlife", and here David directly rebukes the whole concept. There is no way a person's reputation, his standing in society, his strength, his character etc. can give him deliverance and salvation - our only hope is God.

Conclusion
Kind of fitting that this comes on a Saturday night, right before Sunday morning worship!
So what have we learnt here?

We are to praise God because
1. He is worthy because of Creation
2. He is worthy because of His character
3. He is worthy because of His eternal-ness
4. He is worthy because He is our only hope

Of course this list is not exhaustive, but these are the points I find covered here.

In light of knowing God's creation is a reflection of His goodness, how do we respond in praise?
In light of knowing God's character, how do we respond in praise?
In light of knowing God will be the same for all times, that His plan is fixed for all eternity, how do we respond in praise?
In light of knowing that there is no other way but Jesus, how do we respond in praise?
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