He has given me a new song to sing, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see what he has done and be amazed. They will put their trust in the LORD. — Psalm 40:3 NLT
Everything about God is new, when we come to Him. When Jesus described our new life in Him, He said it is like the pouring of “new wine into new wineskins” (Matthew 9:17) and all the followers of Christ come under a “new covenant” (Luke 22:20) and a new command, “Love one another. As I have loved you so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:34-35).
When Peter and the apostles were arrested and let out of jail by an angel, they were instructed by the angel to “Go, stand in the temple courts . . . and tell the people the full message of this new life” (Acts 5:20). The apostle Paul wrote to the Romans one of the greatest treatises in regard to the relationship of the Law of God and the Spirit of God, telling them they had been “released from the Law” in order to “serve in the new way of the Spirit” (Romans 7:6). And one of the more familiar passages in all of the New Testament tells us, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17).
But did you know that along with all of the marvelous new things that God blesses us with, some of the greatest are “new songs”? I believe He puts them into our hearts to sing back to Him. Most of the time we learn them from gifted Spirit-filled songwriters and worship teams but other times I know from experience He just puts them into my heart by His Spirit to sing with my spirit and my mind (1 Corinthians 14:15).
Nine times we are told in the Bible to “sing to the Lord a new song.” Interestingly, we are never told in all of Scripture to sing to the Lord an old song—because I believe everything about our relationship with God is always brand new and fresh. Here are some examples:
“Sing to Him a new song; play skillfully, and shout for joy” (Psalm 33:3).
“He has given me a new song to sing, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see what he has done and be amazed. They will put their trust in the LORD” (Psalm 40:3).
“Sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD all the earth” (Psalm 96:1).
“Sing to the LORD a new song, for He has done marvelous things” (Psalm 98:1).
“I will sing a new song to You, O God, on the ten-stringed lyre I will make music to you” (Psalm 144:9).
“Sing to the LORD a new song, His praise in the assembly of the saints” (Psalm 149:1).
“Sing to the LORD a new song, his praise from the ends of the earth” (Isaiah 42:10).
“And they sang a new song, ‘You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation’” (Revelation 5:9).
“And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders” (Revelation 14:3).
The Hebrew word for new in the Old Testament references above, is hadash, which means something that is “new, a new thing, or fresh.”1 In the New Testament the Holy Spirit uses the word, kainos, which points to something that is “brand new in quality; something that is newly made, not impaired by time.”2
The great reformer, Martin Luther, who himself wrote some of the great new songs of the church in his time (A Mighty Fortress is Our God, All Praise to Thee Eternal God, If God Had Not Been on Our Side), believed that singing hymns was one of the best weapons against Satan and his evil forces. He once said, “The devil, the originator of sorrowful anxieties and restless troubles, flees before the sound of music almost as much as before the Word of God.”3
Now what will be the result promised by God when we sing new songs to him that are heard and seen by others? “Many will see what he has done and be amazed. They will put their trust in the LORD.” In other words, believers and unbelievers alike will be so affected by singing about God that they put their trust in Him. What a way to witness and experience the love of God!
Perhaps that’s why we usually open our church services with songs of praise and worship and end with a song of invitation. New songs will draw hearts to Jesus Christ because of their joy, conviction and testimony about who He is and what He has done. I’m convinced that new songs are one of the most powerful tools that God uses to soften the hearts of men and women of every age.
So let’s sing to the Lord those new songs with powerful words and music that proclaim his marvelous works and joyful praises for all he has done in our lives and watch what happens in the hearts of the people. Oh, by the way, you don’t have to confine your singing to church. I do pretty well in the shower and I bet you do, too!
O, God, continue to give us new anointed songs that we might never stop praising you afresh. Maranatha!
— Pastor Don Kimbro
Footnotes:
1 R. Laird Harris, Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, p. 266
2 Spiros Zodhiates, The Complete Word Study Dictionary, p. 804.
3 William J. Peterson and Randy Peterson, The One Year Book of Hymns, April 15.
