Do you hear me now?

Praise the Eternal!  Write new songs; sing them to Him with all your might!  Gather with His faithful followers in joyful praise; let all of Israel celebrate their Maker, their God, their friend; let the children of Zion find great joy in their true King.  So let the music begin; praise His name—dance and sing to the rhythm of the tambourine, and to the tune of the harp.  For the Eternal is listening, and nothing pleases Him more than His people; He raises up the poor and endows them with His salvation. (Psalm 149:1-4 VOICE)

A new song - isn't it kind of exciting to hear that new release from your favorite artist? When they first put out that new recording, it may be heard a million times or more in one day nowadays.  In the good ole days of yesteryear, they'd have to crank out those vinyl disks, lay out a track on an 8-track or cassette tape, and then eventually we saw the evolution of the compact disk - all of which took time to produce, package, and ship to your nearest store. Now all we have to do is tune into one of our favorite apps online and we can hear it the moment it is released - even purchase it for a nominal cost!  

You know what?  God's way of receiving "new releases" from our very hearts and souls has always been instantaneous!  He has always had a direct line to the one singing the new song! What makes God listen isn't that we all have such melodious, perfectly pitched voices. Heaven only knows there are a couple ringers in there each time I belt out a tune to him! He listens with intentional delight because it is us lifting our voices to celebrate our love, admiration, and ultimately our connection with him!  

Praise is a time of celebrating God - not just what he has done for us, but what he is to us. Grace brings us right up to the ear of God and there it is that we sing our "new songs" of praise and celebration. We have his ear because of grace!  Then grace begins to work in our hearts and we have his ear because of the heart change which is occurring.  In short order, things within our minds begin to become ordered and we see truth in a way we never have before, leading us to erupt in thanksgiving and honest celebration - again catching his ear. In the long run, we celebrate God because he is God - the creator of all things, the one who sustains the universe by his very voice, and the one who finds great pleasure in relating to us through grace.

I think the most important part of this passage is found in the last verse - "For the eternal is listening..."  It may seem a little impossible to many of us that the God of the universe would actually take time to stop, listen, and focus his attention toward us.  Maybe this is because we don't feel worthy of his attention, much less his listening to what it is we have to say to him.  You know what?  God isn't impressed with our perfect pitch - he is excited we stopped to share our day with him!  He isn't overjoyed that we expressed thankfulness for the blessing we just received - he is drawn into the words which express a heart making connection with his.

For some of us, it is like waiting for a "new release" when it comes to how frequently we stop and really take time to just lift our voice to God.  He waits and waits - then finally one day we just step up to his ear and let it go.  Time passes again and then we come to another pivotal point in our lives and let it go again.  This isn't the way God wants it to be, though.  He wants us to have his ear ALL the time - to trust him with the nutty stuff we think, and even the kind of fearful stuff we imagine.  He wants us to celebrate with him, but also celebrate because of him.  He isn't interested in us getting it perfect - his ear is open to our words, cries, celebrations, revelry, and even our unspoken groans of the heart and soul. 

Might it just be we need to "let loose" a little with God today?  I think he has his ear turned to you right now!  Just let go - he is listening.  Just sayin!