Siblings
If you can read this, you are among those of us who crossed over into 2026! We are thankful to God for the gift of the past year, regardless of what it looked like. For we had to survive 2025 in order to be among those who’ve entered 2026. This gives us reason to start the year with praise and thanksgiving. Consider Today’s Holy Nougat
Psalms 33:1 AMP
[1] Rejoice in the Lord, you righteous ones; Praise is becoming and appropriate for those who are upright [in heart—those with moral integrity and godly character].
Rejoicing in the Lord
For many of us, this isn’t a very popular praise-song. It might not even be part of our repertoire of praise palms as there are so many others that we have learnt and applied over time. Whether we are familiar with it or not, we can’t help but hear the infectious praise which emanates from the psalm.
Action Moment
Are we drawn to obey the psalmist – if so, for what will we rejoice? Let’s pause for a moment to rejoice in the Lord
Digging Deeper
You may have noticed, like I did, that those invited to the time of rejoicing are the righteous. It may not seem unique or even noteworthy, until we recall that at the time when the psalms were written, all of Israel was included in God’s chosen people. Under those circumstances, I would have expected that the invitation would have been as open as Psalm 100, which invites the whole world to join in praise song to God. Here, the praise is confined to those whom the Lord God has deemed righteous, i.e., upright and blameless.
Not so here, and a few other psalms. It suggests, then, that righteousness is more than being chosen by God. There is, in fact, an element of righteousness that requires our involvement. For righteousness requires a decision from us. Being righteous involves our spending time in God’s presence so that we become more and more like God’s nature and less of our sinful nature is valorised.
Given that righteousness, though rooted in human choice, is a direct gift from God to us, we already have one reason to rejoice. For we know that we can neither be upright or blameless without intervention on God’s part. Thus, 2 Corinthians 5:21 explains that God became human in order to take on our sins like a scapegoat (see Leviticus 16:10), and through that act those who accept His gift of salvation are made righteous.
We are not only made righteous for today siblings, this is an eternal cancellation of our wrongdoing that guarantees us life with God in Heaven. That is even more reason to celebrate!
So righteous ones, let’s raise a shout of joy (that’s what rejoicing is) to the One in Whom we become upright.
We raise our hallelujahs, not because life is perfect, but because the Perfect One had given us a new lease on life.
We raise our hallelujahs, recognising that God Who allowed us to cross over into this new year isn’t yet done with us, and will faithfully complete the masterpiece of righteousness in us.
We raise our hallelujahs, lifting or spirits to Heaven, glorifying the One Who’s able to and continuously prevents us from falling outside of God’s grace and mercy.
We raise our hallelujahs, celebrating with the crowd (and cloud) of those faithful witnesses – present and past – who join with the angels in singing glory and power and praise.
We raise our hallelujahs, realising that since God hasn’t yet called us all home, there’s scope for others to become part of this unique group who choose Christ and in turn, choose righteousness.
Prayer Points
1) For perseverance to stay focused on Christ this year, no matter the temptations we face
2) For God’s gracious gift that continues to transform us (feel free to reflect on the transformation we have experienced since choosing Christ)
3) For the saints, present and past, who’ve encouraged, supported, and prayed with/for us
4) For the saints who are facing trials of any kind at this time (especially those we know by name/situation)
5) For those struggling with thez decision to join this unique choir in praise-song to God
Let us rejoice and be exceedingly glad for the opportunity to praise God in this new year.
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May all we seek be found in Christ
