Ps.100:1-3 – Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands.
Serve the LORD with gladness:
come before his presence with singing.
Know ye that the LORD he is God:
it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves;
we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
In my Bible School days we would often sing songs in our worship services that were taken right out of scripture especially from the book of Psalms. One of our favorites was taken from this passage in Psalm 100, it was called ‘Make a Joyful Noise’. I remember being mesmerized by this phrase from the first time I heard it in one of our services. I can remember wondering what a joyful noise was and began to identify our worship services as just that, a joyful noise unto our God. I can remember the worship band made up of hippies who in their former lives wanted to be rock stars, now they were filled with joy making a joyful noise with a small community of Jesus freaks. I am not sure of the talent level of all of the musicians but one thing I know, these services were full of joy and there was a lot of noise. Here is how Charles Spurgeon describes this phenomenon.
“Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing. So full were they of joy that they could not contain themselves. They must express their joy and yet they could not find expression for it. Irrepressible mirth could do no other than laugh, for speech was far too dull a thing for it. The mercy was so unexpected, so amazing, so singular that they could not do less than laugh; and they laughed much, so that their mouths were full of it, and that because their hearts were full too. When at last the tongue could move articulately, it could not be content simply to talk, but it must needs sing; and sing heartily too, for it was full of singing.”
We took this joyful sound with us in our daily work responsibilities. There was a joyful noise amongst the tree planters singing on the mountain slopes in Oregon and Washington. There was a joyful sound on the roofs with the roofing team. There was a joyful sound in our classes at Bible School, often songs would break out in our classes. This joyful noise is the sound from heaven, it is part of the Pentecostal blessing that we enjoy today. Come on and make a joyful noise to our God.
