It is good to give thanks to the LORD, and to sing praises to Your name, O Most High; to declare Your lovingkindness in the morning, and Your faithfulness every night, on an instrument of ten strings, on the lute, and on the harp, with harmonious sound. – Psalm 92:1-3
Psalm 92 is a song of thanksgiving, a testimony of praise to Yahweh from the heart of the psalmist. It is also identified in its title as “A Psalm. A Song for the Sabbath day.” This first term is the Hebrew word mizmôr, which means “a poem set to music,” and is derived from the word for singing or playing an instrument. It is, of course, the name given to the entire book of Hebrew worship songs. The second term is the Hebrew word shîr, a more general word meaning “a song.” We should not try to make too great a distinction between these words, as they appear to have very similar meanings and uses in the Bible, however, their presence together here indicates at the very least that this particular psalm was supposed to be sung and accompanied by instruments. The heading also associates Ps. 92 with the Sabbath day, the day of rest for Jews under the old covenant. This day was not set aside for rest only but also included public gatherings for the purpose of worshiping the Lord through the singing of praises accompanied by instrumental music.
This Old Testament song sets an important example for us as New Testament believers. We, too, have set aside specific days and times for public worship gatherings, except in our case we meet on Sunday rather than the Sabbath. This was the custom of the apostles and the early church, who came together “on the first day of the week” to break bread according to Acts 20:7. This day was called “the Lord’s Day,” by the apostle John in Revelation 1:10, and ever since the 1st century Christians have met on Sunday to worship the Lord and fellowship together. And what do we do when we gather together? We follow the example set in Psalm 92 and the explicit teaching of the Holy Spirit by the apostle Paul. In Ephesians 5:18-21 he writes, “And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another in the fear of God.” One key component of our Spirit-filled lives is that we would speak to one another through music, even as we sing to God in our hearts.
In a parallel passage Paul writes, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him” (Colossians 3:16-17). Here our singing is an indication that the word of Christ is dwelling in us in abundance, and our songs serve as tools for warning and teaching our brothers and sisters in the church.
This NT instruction is completely in keeping with the example set for us in Psalm 92, where the psalmist says that it is “good” to give thanks and praise to Yahweh. When we sing praise to God, we are doing something which is both morally good and intrinsically beautiful. There is something about songs of praise and thanksgiving which reflects the moral goodness of God – his righteousness and steadfastness – and his own essential beauty. The song tells us that God is morally good. “Yahweh is upright; He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him” (Psalm 92:15). Therefore, the songs of God’s people ought to reflect this facet of his nature: that he is pure and perfect, without any shortcomings or moral failings. We ought to sing of his righteousness, mercy, love, and faithfulness. We ought to give thanks for his provision, protection, and for his grace which sustains us in the darkest of times, so that our praises will be good in the same way that God is good.
But if our praises are to be good as God is good, then they must also be beautiful as God himself is the standard of perfection and beauty. I think there is something of the beauty of God reflected in the instrumentation that is mentioned in v.3 of this psalm. While there is some overlap between the three instruments that are mentioned here, it is clear that giving thanks and praise to Yahweh includes more than simply words spoken or even sung with our mouths. These instruments add their own voices to those of the singers, creating a harmonious sound, and providing an attractive backdrop for the communication of the truth about God. The fact that there are multiple instruments mentioned suggests that God delights in musical expressions that contain both unity and diversity. There is unity in the fact that they make “a harmonious sound,” joining together to communicate the truth about the nature of Yahweh, and yet there is diversity in their individual tones. Like the colors of a rainbow, whose individual hues, though beautiful in themselves, come together to form a breathtaking image, the instruments of worship fit together to produce songs of praise that reflect the very beauty of God himself. Truly, it is good to give thanks and sing praises to the Lord!