Open and Unafraid: A 5-day Journey Through the PsalmsExemplo

All throughout the Psalter, creation raises its joyful praise to God. The rivers clap their hands and the mountains sing for joy (Ps. 98:8). Both sunrise and sundown ring out with songs of joy; or, as the nasb translates it, “You make the dawn and the sunset shout for joy” (Ps. 65:8). The pastures and the meadows and the valleys shout for joy (Ps. 65:12–13), the heavens rejoice, the earth is glad, the trees sing and the fields make merry (Ps. 96:11–12). . . .

In the Psalter it is not just “heavens and earth” that rejoice in God. It is also human beings and human bodies that rejoice in God. More pointedly, it is not just hearts that leap for joy in the psalms, it is bodies too: the mouth, the throat, the lungs, the hands, and the feet. All throughout we find the language of “shouting,” “bursting,” “reveling,” “resounding,” “clapping,” “thundering,” “crying,” “exulting,” and “dancing.” These are not internal and invisible words; these are body words, physical and expressive.

While some communities may shout only tepidly or might never get caught dead “dancing with the tambourine,” other communities clap and exult without restraint. For certain congregations, such visible expressions of praise might feel embarrassing or foolish. For others, there might be no felt need to express oneself to God in this physical manner, for all requirements of proper worship have been presumably met by intellectual, verbal, or practical means.

But from the perspective of the Psalter, both hearts and bodies get to leap for joy. Both spontaneous and formal expressions of physical praise have a place in the common worship of God. At times our bodies may need to lead the heart and mind in acts of joyful praise. At other times our bodies may need the heart and mind to lead it in acts of joyful praise. But for the psalmist, it is the heart and mind and body and soul and spirit at all times; it is the whole self that is offered up to God.