Psalm 33: Sing a New Song

Psalm 33 – Sing a New Song

Psalm 33 instructs us to sing a new song – what might this new song be?  How do we know it is new and not just a rehash of some other songs, warmed over and re-served?  Ecclesiastes says there is nothing new under the sun.  If so, what could this new song be?  More often than not, when we preach, we try to find new ways to get across the same old story – the story of God’s love, a message worth repeating.  We struggle to find new ways to get our listener’s attention so that God might speak to them. 

Often people claim they are starting out fresh, maybe leaving a relationship or job for another, only to find themselves in the same rut with the same problems, only the names and faces have changed.  So what is the new song the Psalmist is writing about?

Psalm 33 talks of God as creator.  The writer praises our God who through his word made the heavens (6-9).  It is the Lord’s counsel that stands forever, not the counsel of men (10-11).   Our God watches the goings on below on his earth and keeps his people safe (13-15, 18-19).  People are not saved by armies but by their God (16-17).  And so we have reason to sing songs to our God, but what is so new about this?

God in Isaiah says “see I am doing something new.”  Only God can do something new.   So how do we know we are doing something new?  If God is the author.   Only God, the creator, can bring new life out of dried out bones; only God creates, we are but participants in God’s creation. 

So sing a song to our God, allow God to sing within us, allow God to change us, transform us, and then our song will be new.  So . . . what are you doing that is new????

Copyright Robertson January 2013