As we continue into week 4 of this worship series, please enjoy the following contribution from John Bronson, one of my fellow worship leaders.
שָׁבַחshâbach, shaw-bakh’; a primitive root; properly, to address in a loud tone, i.e. (specifically) loud; figuratively,):—commend, glory, keep in, praise, still, triumph.
Oh; clap your hands, all you Peoples! Shout to God with the voice of triumph.
Psalm 47:1
Some of you might have heard me shout during a worship song recently. When I first started doing this, I didn’t have a real reason. It was just a feeling that would well up inside of me and finally just boil over. I always thought of it as a steam whistle blowing off due to built up pressure.
When we started researching these Hebrew terms a couple of years ago, I knew this described my feelings exactly. I was making a loud noise to God because my Spirit wanted me to worship the creator of all things appropriately. God deserves for us to make loud noises to express our understanding of how great He is! It’s also proclaiming unto others how you feel about God. It’s encouraging to God and unto others at the same time.
So let’s all do this. Don’t worry about anything other than shouting to God with your voice of triumph! He has done and is doing things in all our lives to warrant our “loud tones”.