Missionary Praise

A hymn of praise brings to a joyful end the warnings and judgments of previous chapters. The anger that led to destruction and exile will not last forever. God’s people Israel will be restored, renewed and refreshed. For the prophet, the only way to express such joy is in song. The “wells of salvation” (3) may refer to the water drawn from the brook Gihon in Jerusalem, used to cleanse the temple of the blood of the sacrifices, in a joyful celebration on the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles. Jesus speaks of “rivers of living water” that will flow from the hearts of his disciples (John 7:37-39).

Our mission is to proclaim this good news in word and deed to all nations. The method is here doxological. Experiencing God’s saving power gives us a song to sing as much as a message to preach. Beethoven expressed similar joy in his setting of poet Schiller’s “Ode to Joy” in his ninth symphony. This song has been used ever since to express powerful emotions at times like the fall of the Berlin wall and the inauguration of the new millennium. Beethoven’s final years were shrouded in isolation, deafness, and a sense of frustration due to personal difficulties and conflicts, but the song’s vision of the brotherhood of all humanity, united with the creation in praise of its Maker, is a powerful statement of the triumph of the human spirit. In our passage, it is God who brings the victory–how do we express such joy?

Too often we fail to express joy, or use the language of love to describe our gratitude for what God has done for us. His gift of salvation, through the cross and resurrection of Jesus, is worth all the praise we have to give.

As we approach the new year, write a psalm to thank God for the year gone by, and commit to him matters for prayer for the coming year.