By: Pastor Jarren Rogers

“Sing to the LORD a new song, for he has done marvelous things” (Psalm 98:1).

In reading this familiar passage, the adjective before the word “song” struck me. David urges us to sing a NEW song to the Lord. God deserves more than the Top 100 Greatest Oldies or the CD at the bottom of the clearance bin. Instead, God is worthy of a new song of praise. 

It can be so easy to continually give God the normal, everyday, and the mundane. After all, we are creatures who live in the routine. You don’t think about how you brush your teeth everyday. You just do it. 

And you don’t wake up one morning and say, “Today’s the day! I’m really going to try something new when it comes to tying my shoes. I’m gonna switch it up big time.”

You just do what you’ve always done. 

And sometimes, our relationship with God can be hit with the same treatment. Our time that we spend with God is valuable, and prayers of gratitude and praise are necessary. But I can’t help but think that we fail to give God the very best of ourselves, of which He’s more than worthy.

In this Psalm, I think David was pushing his audience to sing a new song because he saw the Israelites were dragging their feet. They were getting comfortable. They began to take their God and Deliverer for granted. And if we look at what happens in the Old Testament, this kind of attitude gets them in trouble. 

A lot.

David wants us to see that God is always doing new things in the world and in our lives. He never gets bored and never get’s locked into a routine. He loves to excite us and surprise us. God is doing marvelous things! And yet we are stuck singing the same old songs and responding in boring ways (and I’m not talking about hymns. I love me some “Great is Thy Faithfulness”).

David calls us to a new kind of praise. Praise full of vigor and energy. This is not a simplified and dusty verse, but it’s approaching God with energy and excitement for the new things He is doing. 

For David, the only response to God’s marvelous acts is a new song. A song worthy of the big and extraordinary ways in which our God is working.

“The Lord has made his salvation known and revealed his righteousness to the nations” (v2). 

God is doing good miraculous and marvelous things that He will reveal to us in His timing.

His job is to do the marvelous. Our job is to sing a new song in response.