Psalm 149:1-4 - "He Will Beautify the Humble..."

1 Praise the LORD! Sing to the LORD a new song, And His praise in the assembly of saints. 2 Let Israel rejoice in their Maker; Let the children of Zion be joyful in their King. 3 Let them praise His name with the dance; Let them sing praises to Him with the timbrel and harp. 4 For the LORD takes pleasure in His people; He will beautify the humble with salvation. Psalm 149 is one of the five “Hallelujah Psalms” that concludes the Book of Psalms. It is a psalm that reminds us that we are created to worship the true and living God rather than the gods of this world. God created us to glorify Him! There can be no true joy, fulfillment, completeness without fulfilling the purpose for which we were made. Verses 1-2 tell us that we must worship the Lord intelligently. We rejoice and are joyful in our Maker and King! Yes, we can be grateful and thankful for all the blessings that our great and good God has bestowed upon us, but we must be careful that we don’t begin worshiping the blessings rather than the Blesser! God alone is Good, and “every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variableness, neither shadow of turning” (James 1:17). In verses 3-4, we learn that our worship should be accompanied with spiritual fervency and with enthusiasm. The Jews were a very expressive people.  They used musical instruments, songs, and dances in their worship of the Lord. The dances, of course, were not modern ballroom or disco dances but rather interpretive dances that pointed to the Lord and not some person's talent (see Ex. 15:20; Judges 11:34; 1 Sam. 18:6; Jer. 31:4). We find no evidence that the New Testament church patterned its worship after the Jewish temple. Their pattern seems to have been the local synagogue worship, with its emphasis on prayer, the reading of the Word, exposition and exhortation, and singing hymns. However, spiritual fervency must not be confused with fleshly enthusiasm. There are false worshipers as well as true worshipers (John 4:22-24; Col. 2:16-23), and some people who think they are filled with the Spirit are really being fooled by the spirits. Bringing false fire into the sanctuary can lead to death (Lev. 10:1-11). Our purpose is not to please ourselves or to demonstrate how "spiritual" we are. Our purpose is to delight the Lord (147:11), and humility is one virtue that brings Him great joy (Isa. 66:1-2). The Lord gives spiritual beauty to those whose worship brings Him delight. “For the LORD takes pleasure in His people; He will beautify the humble with salvation” (v. 4), reminds me of one of David’s psalms where he wrote, “Good and upright is the LORD; Therefore He teaches sinners in the way. The humble He guides in justice, And the humble He teaches His way” (Psalm 25:8-9). True worship of the Lord will be an expression of our humility not of our pride! Worship ought to be beautiful, for we are beholding the beauty of the Lord (27:4; 29:2; 90:17; 96:9) and becoming more like the Lord (2 Cor. 3:18). It is sad that much of our so-called worship services in our churches today is no more than fleshly entertainment that glorifies talent and people rather than the Lord Jesus! Romans 8:5-8 reminds us that “Those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.  Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” Worship must focus on God, not on us, and it must be enrichment, not entertainment. The experience of true worship can help us experience deliverance from the bondage of sin and the world. God bless!