“I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth.” Psalm 34:1
“Oh, sing to the Lord a new song!
Sing to the Lord, all the earth.
Sing to the Lord, bless His name;
Proclaim the good news of His salvation from day to day.
Declare His glory among the nations,
His wonders among all peoples.
For the Lord is great and greatly to be praised;
He is to be feared above all gods.
For all the gods of the peoples are idols,
But the Lord made the heavens.
Honor and majesty are before Him;
Strength and beauty are in His sanctuary.
Give to the Lord, O families of the peoples,
Give to the Lord glory and strength.
Give to the Lord the glory due His name;
Bring an offering, and come into His courts.
Oh, worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness!
Tremble before Him, all the earth.
Say among the nations, “The Lord reigns;
The world also is firmly established,
It shall not be moved;
He shall judge the peoples righteously.”
Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad;
Let the sea roar, and all its fullness;
Let the field be joyful, and all that is in it.
Then all the trees of the woods will rejoice
before the Lord.
For He is coming, for He is coming to judge the earth.
He shall judge the world with righteousness,
And the peoples with His truth.”
Nothing comes as a surprise in New York City. Surely there is no city in the world more filled with people from around the world and with more extremes of absolutely anything and everything. There is truly never a dull moment in the city, so seeing a woman come prancing down the sidewalk singing at the top of her lungs in a slightly off the beaten track kind of outfit one weekday morning was pretty much par for the course for a typical day in the city. But something was in fact different as I was soon to learn. Something different even for New York City, and, sadly, for much of this world. For the truth is it seems not too many people, loudly and joyfully anyway, in public, do what she was doing.
The woman, as I realized when she got up close to me, was singing at the top of her longs to the Lord! She was praising and worshiping Him to no end! She was shouting Hallelujah! She was filled with exuberance and joy, and could not have been more delighted when she stopped in front of me as I spoke to her and realized I’m a Jesus believer and lover, too! Oh, how thrilled we both were in a world that is praising and worshiping and praying to all sorts of false gods like money and sex and drugs and one false religion’s god after another, that is glorifying self to no end, that in large part has its back turned on the Lord Jesus Christ, that even among professing Christians oftentimes it seems doesn’t want to be seen worshiping the only true God, the Lord Jesus Christ, in public, how thrilled we were for just a minute or so to meet on a street corner and share our love for Jesus!
The crazy singing lady. That’s how she likely appeared to most people watching her for those with whom she had crossed paths. But she didn’t care. Because her focus was on the Lord and on loving and praising and adoring and revering Him. She didn’t exhibit one ounce of shame or embarrassment about her love for the Lord! She simply wanted to glorify Him.
It’s one thing to sing in church on Sundays led by the choir. It’s another thing in our everyday lives not to hold back our praise, our worship, our adoration, for the Lord Jesus Christ. Who are we to worry about what anyone thinks? Should our number one focus and goal and priority in life not be God almighty, should it not be living to love and glorify Him, to praise and honor Him, to sing with our hearts, to worship Him with our very words and lifestyle, oh, let us worship the Lord, without holding back! May He be the one we glorify – joyfully – forever!