Score!
As a verb that word has one hoped-for outcome: GOOAALLLLLLLL! When it happens a team like Spain gets to play for its first World Cup title. Thus, my nod to the global fever these last few weeks over football/soccer. (I was a goalie in high school, so I much preferred the verb ‘save.’)
Verbs are the key to produce the direction and action of our lives. Most of the time we aren’t aware of the verbs that are actually moving us.
Hurry. Strive. Worry. Push. Pull. Run. Climb. Prove. Hide. These are some of the verbs that get more play than we would wish.
Over the Fourth of July weekend I had some time to myself while also enjoying my family up in Blowing Rock, North Carolina. (The parade was awesome.) So, I opened up to a familiar song in the bible to read and think about, Psalm 100. You know, it’s the one that starts off, “Make a joyful noise to the Lord.” People who have lousy voices or are tone-deaf like to use this Psalm as permission to belt out whatever comes out of their mouths in a public worship service: noise.
I grew up hearing the words of Psalm 100 so often that I wondered if it would be possible to hear them in a fresh way. That’s when the verbs caught me, and I have been thinking about this Psalm ever since.
The verbs in the NIV translation;
- Shout
- Worship
- Come
- Know
- Enter
- Give thanks
The Psalm explodes with joy. It’s both an invitation and a command, although I wonder how we can really be commanded to shout for joy. I’m aware of a bunch of not so happy things in the lives of people right now. How can I shout for joy. I’m glad that there are verbs in other Psalms that include cry out, lament, call.
But, the key verb in this Psalm is know. Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us and we are his.
Three passions then come from this Psalm:
- To really know God, not just some stuff about God.
- To have a life that shouts joy in God.
- To have a life that causes others to know and shout joy in God.
Struggles? I don’t deny them, but these passions are bigger then they are.
What hits you about that old familiar Psalm?
What verbs do you want to be passions?