Psalm 92:3














Upon the harp with a solemn sound. There seem to have been trumpet blasts connected with the worship of Jehovah from the time of its orderly arrangement by Moses. But what may be called distinguishing music, the accompaniment of intelligent song, seems to have been introduced by David. The association of music and song with worship changed public worship from a ceremony to a service, from something done for men to something done by men. It made public worshipping personally pleasant to the worshipper; glorified duty; kindled and exercised holy emotion. It seems a strange thing that objection should ever have been made to the introduction of instrumental music into Divine worship. On the principle of consecrating the use of all gifts and talents to the Divine service, the gifts of varied music should have been taken over and sanctified. And the lutes, and psalteries, and harps, and cymbals, of the older time, do but represent the cornets and violins and organs of this newer time. Not only artistically, but also devotionally, music is a most valuable background to song, and it may be fairly urged that the most beautiful, the most perfect, the most varied music the world can produce should be associated with the sanctuaries of the Most High.

I. Music ministers to our sanctifying by its RESTFULNESS. Nothing in the world is so soothing to us. David's power on the half-mad king Saul is but a type of the influence of music that we feel. How often nothing will quiet the tossing, restless sufferer, until some one croons a holy song! Who does not feel the cathedral song steal into his very soul, hushing down every passion, and breathing peace? And surely, tempest tossed every week, we need sabbath music.

II. Music ministers to our sanctifying by its RELATION TO OUR EMOTIONS. Illustrate by the march of a regiment to its music. The instant effect produced by dance music. The influence of tunes in the minor key, etc. Then our sensitiveness makes music, well chosen and well rendered, an actual, moral, and religious force. Music may be a means of grace.

III. Music ministers to our sanctifying by its WINSOMENESS. See the crowds attracted by Salvation Army bands; or by services of song. The power of music to win has not yet been fully realized by the Christian Church. - R.T.

To show forth Thy lovingkindness in the morning, and Thy faithfulness every night.
The Jews have for a long while used this psalm in their Sabbath worship; and this, not because there is much if any allusion to Sabbatic rest in it, but because it is fitting that on that day above all others our thoughts should be lifted up from all earthly things to God Himself. It is a psalm of praise, and this should be the Christian's continual exercise. And we should avoid all slovenliness and formalism in our praise; and as before prayer it is well to pause and consider what we are going to ask for, so in praise we should not rush upon it helter-skelter, but engage in it with prepared hearts. Thus the psalmist would have us offer praise; not mere praise, but varied praise, praise with distinct subjects at appointed seasons. Note, then —

I. MORNING WORSHIP. "To show forth thy lovingkindness in the morning." There cannot be more suitable time for praise than this. Every morning is a sort of resurrection. We are full of vigour then. Let us give the Lord the bud of the day, its virgin beauty, its unsullied purity. The morning is the choice time. And so is it with the morning of our life. Nothing can happen to you who are young so blessed as to be converted now, while you are young. And the bright morning-like periods of our life — these, too, should be seasons for showing forth God's lovingkindness. We have our darker hours, our more sombre seasons, but when the joy days come, let us always consecrate them by praise to the giver of them. Do not, as some do, who, if they are prospering, make a point of not owning to it. We often whine as if our lives were martyrdoms, and every breath a woe, thus slandering the good Lord. There are bright days like the morning, and in them we ought to render praise. And see what is to be the subject of our praise — God's lovingkindness. Was there ever such a word in any language as this word lovingkindness? It is a duplicate deliciousness. There are within it linked sweetnesses long drawn out. It is a kind of word with which to cast spells which should charm away all fears. And this lovingkindness we are to show forth; we are not to keep it to ourselves. I do not mean by talking of it to every one he meets, casting pearls before swine, as it would be to some men, but by the very way in which he speaks, acts, and looks. A Christian ought to be the most cheerful of men. Let the joy of the Lord be our strength.

II. EVENING WORSHIP, — "to show forth Thy faithfulness every night." The evening is the Sabbath of the day, and should be the Lord's. And our subject should be God's faithfulness, for we have had more experience of it. Notice that the text says "every night," the dark, drear, cold nights as well as others. Let the old who are nearing the night of life show forth the Lord's faithfulness. And let us all publish it abroad. If there be any one topic on which Christians should speak, it is this, and they should speak of it bravely, continuously, thankfully and positively. Satan makes a dead set upon it in the minds of many tempted ones, and therefore all the more should you bring the strength of your testimony that God doth not forsake His people.

( C. H. Spurgeon.)

I. A GENERAL STATEMENT (ver. 1). "To give thanks unto the Lord" —

1. Is in harmony with the original design of creation (Job 38:7). Sin has brought discord with it into the world; but it is supremely a good thing to add to the world's harmonies, and not to its discords.

2. Is the highest expression of human service.(1) It is good for a man when he learns to give, to feel that he has so much of blessing as that he can afford to give out of the fulness that is in him: good for him to forget himself, and to think of some one whom he feels a yearning desire to bless.(2) It is good "to give thanks." A grand thing when man has that delicacy of feeling that enables him to appreciate a blessing, to recognize its source, its value, and in return acknowledge his own indebtedness.(3) Further, it is good "to give thanks unto the Lord." Anything that brings man into contact with God, everything that reciprocates the relationship between man and God, is ennobling. God gives. In thanks I give something back.

3. Imparts joy to the heart of the Lord Himself. All that we know of the heart of God teaches us that He yearns for this response.

II. DETAILS.

1. The morning song. To show forth God's "lovingkindness in the morning" is a grand exercise, when the energies of life are refreshed once more; when the morning dew rests upon mind and heart; when everything is vigorous; and when the day's toils have not taken the spring and vivacity out of your spirit.

2. The evening song. "To show forth... Thy faithfulness every night." The faithfulness represents the strong side, the robust aspect, of Divine goodness. It expresses the fidelity of God; His strong adherence to His promise. This represents the more fatherly aspect of His goodness: the power that sustained you in the struggle of the day.

(D. Davies.)

People
Psalmist
Places
Jerusalem
Topics
Harp, Higgaion, Instrument, Lute, Lyre, Melody, Music, Psaltery, Quiet, Resounding, Solemn, Strings, Ten, Ten-corded, Ten-stringed
Outline
1. The prophet exhorts to praise God
4. For his great works
6. For his judgments on the wicked
10. And for his goodness to the godly.

Dictionary of Bible Themes
Psalm 92:3

     5420   music

Psalm 92:1-3

     4954   morning
     8352   thankfulness

Psalm 92:1-4

     5332   harp

Psalm 92:1-8

     1090   God, majesty of

Library
December 3. Thy Thoughts are Very Deep (Ps. Xcii. 5).
Thy thoughts are very deep (Ps. xcii. 5). When a Roman soldier was told by his guide that if he insisted on taking a certain journey it would probably be fatal he answered, "It is necessary for me to go, it is not necessary for me to live." That was depth. When we are convicted like that we shall come to something. The shallow nature lives in its impulses, its impressions, its intuitions, its instincts, and very largely in its surroundings. The profound character looks beyond all these and moves
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

God Alone the Salvation of his People
Look on yon rocks and wonder at their antiquity, for from their summits a thousand ages look down upon us. When this gigantic city was as yet unfounded they were grey with age; when our humanity had not yet breathed the air, tis said that these were ancient things; they are the children of departed ages. With awe we look upon these aged rocks, for they are among nature's first-born. You discover, embedded in their bowels, the remnants of unknown worlds, of which, the wise may guess, but which, nevertheless,
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 2: 1856

The Majesty of God. --Ps. Xcii.
The Majesty of God.--Ps. xcii. The Lord is King:--upon His throne, He sits in garments glorious: Or girds for war His armour on, In every field victorious: The world came forth at his command; Built on His word its pillars stand; They never can be shaken. The Lord was King ere time began, His reign is everlasting: When high the floods in tumult ran, Their foam to heaven up-casting, He made the raging waves His path; The sea is mighty in its wrath, But God on high is mightier. Thy testimonies,
James Montgomery—Sacred Poems and Hymns

Dialogue i. --The Immutable.
Orthodoxos and Eranistes. Orth.--Better were it for us to agree and abide by the apostolic doctrine in its purity. But since, I know not how, you have broken the harmony, and are now offering us new doctrines, let us, if you please, with no kind of quarrel, investigate the truth. Eran.--We need no investigation, for we exactly hold the truth. Orth.--This is what every heretic supposes. Aye, even Jews and Pagans reckon that they are defending the doctrines of the truth; and so also do not only the
Theodoret—The Ecclesiastical History of Theodoret

Sweet is the Work, My God, My King
[167]Canonbury: Robert Schumann, 1839 Arr. Psalm 92 Isaac Watts, 1719 Sweet is the work, my God, my King, To praise thy Name, give thanks and sing; To show thy love by morning light, And talk of all thy truth at night. Sweet is the day of sacred rest; No mortal cares shall seize my breast; O may my heart in tune be found, Like David's harp of solemn sound. My heart shall triumph in my Lord, And bless his works, and bless his word; Thy works of grace, how bright they shine! How deep thy counsels,
Various—The Hymnal of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the USA

Reprobation.
In discussing this subject I shall endeavor to show, I. What the true doctrine of reprobation is not. 1. It is not that the ultimate end of God in the creation of any was their damnation. Neither reason nor revelation confirms, but both contradict the assumption, that God has created or can create any being for the purpose of rendering him miserable as an ultimate end. God is love, or he is benevolent, and cannot therefore will the misery of any being as an ultimate end, or for its own sake. It is
Charles Grandison Finney—Systematic Theology

Period ii. The Church from the Permanent Division of the Empire Until the Collapse of the Western Empire and the First Schism Between the East and the West, or Until About A. D. 500
In the second period of the history of the Church under the Christian Empire, the Church, although existing in two divisions of the Empire and experiencing very different political fortunes, may still be regarded as forming a whole. The theological controversies distracting the Church, although different in the two halves of the Graeco-Roman world, were felt to some extent in both divisions of the Empire and not merely in the one in which they were principally fought out; and in the condemnation
Joseph Cullen Ayer Jr., Ph.D.—A Source Book for Ancient Church History

Man's Chief End
Q-I: WHAT IS THE CHIEF END OF MAN? A: Man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him for ever. Here are two ends of life specified. 1: The glorifying of God. 2: The enjoying of God. I. The glorifying of God, I Pet 4:4: That God in all things may be glorified.' The glory of God is a silver thread which must run through all our actions. I Cor 10:01. Whether therefore ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.' Everything works to some end in things natural and artificial;
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity

The Knowledge of God Conspicuous in the Creation, and Continual Government of the World.
1. The invisible and incomprehensible essence of God, to a certain extent, made visible in his works. 2. This declared by the first class of works--viz. the admirable motions of the heavens and the earth, the symmetry of the human body, and the connection of its parts; in short, the various objects which are presented to every eye. 3. This more especially manifested in the structure of the human body. 4. The shameful ingratitude of disregarding God, who, in such a variety of ways, is manifested within
John Calvin—The Institutes of the Christian Religion

The Resemblance Between the Old Testament and the New.
1. Introduction, showing the necessity of proving the similarity of both dispensations in opposition to Servetus and the Anabaptists. 2. This similarity in general. Both covenants truly one, though differently administered. Three things in which they entirely agree. 3. First general similarity, or agreement--viz. that the Old Testament, equally with the New, extended its promises beyond the present life, and held out a sure hope of immortality. Reason for this resemblance. Objection answered. 4.
John Calvin—The Institutes of the Christian Religion

Psalms
The piety of the Old Testament Church is reflected with more clearness and variety in the Psalter than in any other book of the Old Testament. It constitutes the response of the Church to the divine demands of prophecy, and, in a less degree, of law; or, rather, it expresses those emotions and aspirations of the universal heart which lie deeper than any formal demand. It is the speech of the soul face to face with God. Its words are as simple and unaffected as human words can be, for it is the genius
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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