Thursday is known in Hebrew as “Yom HaChamishi,” meaning “the fifth day.” Every day has a “Psalm of the Day” and the one for Thursday is Psalm 81. Psalm 81 has 17 verses. Let’s not rush when we take opportunities to read through them.

Psalm 81 starts with a series of five sudden commands to worshippers. In this short article, we are only going to study the first three commands.

“For the music director, on the Gittite lyre, of Asaph. Sing for joy to God our strength, shout to the God of Jacob! Lift up a song.” – Psalm 8:1, TLV

Of these commands, in verse 1 we find, (1.) Sing for joy to God our strength, (2.) shout to the God of Jacob! And (3.) Lift up a song. These first three commands are a call to an attitude of praise, worship and thanksgiving to, and before God.

The first command is to “sing.” The Hebrew word used here to sing, means so much more. It is “Har’ni’nu” from “Ranan” which means to be so overcome with joy that one cannot contain their shouts for joy. It is both plural and an imperative and is a command for us all to be so overwhelmed with gladness that we cannot contain our shout of praise. We are not just singing, we are bursting forth with an expression of our gladness to the God of our strength!

Read the full article here: December ’21 Issue 4