In God there is everything that is awful, yet everything that is amiable.
Those who have come to know Him should go forth in His strength,
enamored with His beauty and to continually praise Him in song, thanksgiving and in service.
Psalm 1
1 O sing unto the LORD a new song: sing unto the LORD, all the earth.
2 Sing unto the LORD, bless his name; shew forth his salvation from day to day.
3 Declare his glory among the heathen, his wonders among all people.
4 For the LORD is great, and greatly to be praised: he is to be feared above all gods.
5 For all the gods of the nations are idols: but the LORD made the heavens.
6 Honour and majesty are before him: strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.
7 Give unto the LORD, O ye kindreds of the people, give unto the LORD glory and strength.
8 Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name: bring an offering, and come into his courts.
9 O worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness: fear before him, all the earth.
10 Say among the heathen that the LORD reigneth: the world also shall be established that it shall not be moved: he shall judge the people righteously.
11 Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad; let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof.
12 Let the field be joyful, and all that is therein: then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice
13 Before the LORD: for he cometh, for he cometh to judge the earth: he shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with his truth.
Psalm 1 – J. Vernon McGee
Psalm 96 – “The Lord Reigneth”
This psalm is found also in I Chronicles 16. Note the thrice-repeated command, Sing, sing, sing, Psalm 96:1-2; the corresponding, thrice-repeated, Give, give, give, Psalm 96:7-8; the triple call for joy from heaven, sea, and land, Psalm 96:11-12. It is good to read these psalms; they impart the burning devotion of these olden saints. They break on our lethargy as the bugle-call on the sleeping soldier. Notice that we call men to a Jubilate (Psalm 100), not a Miserere (Psalm 51), when we invite them to come home to God.
What a stately procession escorts the King to the throne of the world! He comes to reign in equity. Righteousness and truth which had fled the world return with Him. Honor and majesty are His avant-couriers. Strength and beauty stand in His court-circle. When we are brought into the divine Kingdom, and are at one with God, we detect the unison of nature in her song of praise. The seas provide the bass; the quivering leaves, the song of buds, the hum of insect life provide the tenors and altos; while the stars in their courses sing the treble. To the anointed ear, the new song has already begun. —Through the Bible Day by Day
Psalm 96:10—Say among the heathen that the LORD reigneth.
Tell it out! The message is too good to warrant silence. That the Lord is King is the secret of jubilation and blessing for all the world.
Nature is glad, because his rule will emancipate her from the thralldom under which she has groaned too long. When the kingdom is established in the hand of the Son of Man, the long travail of creation will be over; the new heavens and earth will have emerged. Therefore the psalmist depicts the outburst of thanksgiving from seas, and fields, and trees. The world of men may be glad also, because the reign of Jesus means equity for the oppressed, equal-handed justice for the poor, peace among the nations.
But, above all, gladness becomes the saints. It the Lord Jesus has become King of your heart, and has brought blessing to you, do not hesitate to give voice to your allegiance. In private, sing unto Him a new song; in public, show forth his salvation, and declare his glory. Tell it out, tell it out! Have you ever seriously considered whether it may not be God’s will for you to give up your life to going forth to distant lands, to tell it out that God has made Jesus King, and that He must reign, and that his reign is blessedness?
Probably but a very brief interval remains, during which we can tell it out. Human history has well-nigh fulfilled its six working-days, and approaches its millennial rest; the times of the Gentiles, according to every computation, are nearly fulfilled; the lawlessness, which was to mark the last days, is conspicuously manifest; the bride is rapidly completing her preparation for the marriage-feast—haste then, O heralds of Salvation, prepare in the deserts a highway for our God! —Our Daily Homily