Shalom,


Psalm 149 is another Psalm that emphasizes the vital importance of praise and worship in the life of a believer. Verse 1:


1 PRAISE THE LORD! Sing to the LORD a new song, praise Him in the assembly of His saints!


I believe that the admonition to sing a "new" song includes both the song in the Spirit that is fresh from the Holy Spirit, AND the idea of not getting into a rut by singing the same things all the time, but keeping your praise and worship fresh by flowing with the Holy Spirit and singing the songs HE chooses! We do that in our worship service and it is POWERFUL!  Verse 3 tells us some of the many different ways to praise Him and verse 4 tells us that HE loves this!


4 For the LORD takes pleasure in His people; He will beautify the humble with salvation and adorn the wretched with victory.


I have always liked verse 5 and have been a DOER of this verse for years now!


5 Let the saints be joyful in the glory and beauty [which God confers upon them]; let them sing for joy upon their beds.


That means that we are to praise Him EARLY and OFTEN! I also like the Message Bible for verse 5:


5 Let true lovers (of Jesus) break out in praise, sing out from wherever they're sitting.


IF we truly love Him, we can't keep the praises from pouring forth! AMEN!


In Revelation 5 John sees a sealed scroll and weeps because there is no one worthy to open the scroll. Then one of the elders speaks up in verse 5:


5 Then one of the elders [of the heavenly Sanhedrin] said to me, Stop weeping! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root (Source) of David, has won (has overcome and conquered)! He can open the scroll and break its seven seals.


So many times we hear that Jesus was born into the line of David, and this is true, according to His humanity! But Jesus is also the "Root and Source" of David, as Creator of all things, in His Deity! Then we see Psalm 149 being obeyed here in verse 9-10:


9 And [now] they sing a new song, saying, You are worthy to take the scroll and to break the seals that are on it, for you were slain (sacrificed), and with Your blood you purchased men unto God from every tribe and language and people and nation. 10 And You have made them a  kingdom (royal race) and priests to our God, and they shall reign [as kings] over the earth.


In Jeremiah 21 we see king Zedekiah desperately seeking Jeremiah's help to try to convince the LORD to fight on their side against king Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. I can only imagine the shock when Jeremiah came back with this report from the LORD in verses 4-7:


4 Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Behold, I will turn back and dull the edge of the weapons of war that are in your hands, with which you fight against the king of Babylon and the Chaldeans who are besieging you outside the walls; and I will bring them into the midst of this city [Jerusalem]. 5 And I Myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and with a strong arm in anger, in fury, and in great indignation and wrath. 6 and I will smite the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast; they will die of a great pestilence. 7 And afterward, says the LORD, I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah and his servants and the people in this city who survive the pestilence, the sword, and the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon and into the hands of their enemies, into the hands of those who seek their lives. and he will smite them with the edge of the sword; he will not spare them nor have pity or mercy and compassion upon them.


These people had turned their backs on the God of the Bible and scorned and mocked the prophets that He had sent to warn them of this very thing! Now they wanted the LORD to forget all of that and come to their rescue again! Not this time! They had run out of their harvest of mercy! That tells me that they had not been showing mercy to others! God WAS still merciful, though, because He said this in verses 8-9:


8 And to this people you [Jeremiah] shall say, Thus says the LORD: Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death. 9 He who remains in this city [Jerusalem] shall die by the sword and by the famine and by pestilence. But he who goes out and passes over to the Chaldeans who besiege you, he shall live, and his life shall be to him his only booty [as a prize of war].


Life and death - YOU choose! That sounds like a merciful God, doesn't it! 


In Jeremiah 34 he delivers a message to king Zedekiah that he will not die by the sword, but will die in peace. Then he delivers another dire warning to those who had broken the covenant with God concerning letting go free their fellow Hebrews who were slaves. They had failed to keep their end of the Covenant, and God takes the Covenant VERY, VERY SERIOUSLY! I am glad that He does! That tells me that I can have complete confidence that He will fulfill His Covenant with ME! AMEN! 


Shalom in Him!