Some days I don’t feel much like clapping. Or shouting for that matter.
Many Mondays I don’t feel like either.
It’s not that I have a cart blanche disregard for ecstatic expressions. Quite the opposite. I’m quite fond of them!
I remember one time I had to take my watch for repairs because the latch kept popping open while I was clapping. The watchmaker wanted to know why it was happening and seemed a little bemused when I said ‘I clap a fair bit’… Ten years later the same watch is still prone to the same problem.
Psalm 47 gives us no shortage of reasons to clap. And not many of them are to do with us. The Lord is most high, He’s awesome and He’s king over all the earth. The psalmist celebrates that his people have been given the victory and that God loves them, reigns over all the earth and is seated on his holy throne.
They’re all pretty tidy reasons to jump, dance and make some loud noise.
And yet it’s Monday and, while I love a new working week, I’m often a little more subdued, circumspect and, well, tuckered out when it comes to Mondays. And hey, only verses ago (46:10) one of the other sons of Korah (surely not the same one!) was telling me to be still…and know that God is God.
Be still and know, or clap and shout? I’m pretty sure the answer to that one is ‘yes’. Wherever, whatever, however, remember God and the gift of grace He’s given us in Jesus. Sometimes it will drive you to your knees, sometimes it will raise you to your feet but it should always turn our eyes toward Him. Because He’s worth ecstatic celebration and His grace drives us to fall facedown in reverence and gratitude.
Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I say: rejoice.