Awake, O harp and lyre! I will awaken the dawn.Wake up, harp and lyre! I will wake up the dawn.Awake, psaltery and harp: I myself will awake early.Awake, psaltery and harp: I myself will awake right early.
4 sermons cite this verse
… four he sings my heart is steadfast oh God I will sing and make melody with all my being Awake, O harp and lyre, I will awake the dawn. I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the peoples. I will sing praises to you among the nations. For your steadfast love is great above the heavens. Your faithfulness, it reaches to the clouds. But Saul feels in the moment like God is not loving, that he's not faithful. But David knows better than that. He knows that God's steadfast love has not come to an end and that his mercy is still new again this morning. Even in disappointment, even in defeat, his God is not any less God in the valley. And so he says, your steadfast love is great above the heavens. your faithfulness reaches to the clouds. He's saying, I can only see so much down here on earth, God. I can't see everything. I can only see so much. And it looks pretty dark and pretty bleak where I am. …
… before, you'd be right. Wow, they're so familiar. I wonder if they're in here twice. Well, they are in here twice. Psalm 108, verses 1 through 5. So, you have your Bible. Look at there. Verses 1 through 5 are taken almost word for word from Psalm 57, 7 through 11. Now, hold on. We'll go to Psalm 57 in just a moment. And then 108 verses 6 through 13, so the second half of Psalm 108, is taken almost word for word from Psalm 60 verses 5 through 12. Now, you notice the superscription says a Psalm of David. It may be that David put these two halves together or that someone later put the two halves together, but those other Psalms are both from David. And so, it's given the title of David. But what we'll see in just a moment is Psalm 108 consists virtually identically with the conclusion of two other psalms. And so, we're left scratching our heads and thinking, why? Why have a psalm that appears to be redundant? We already have all of these words in the conclusion of 57 and the conclusion of 60, and now we've mashed them together for Psalm 108. …
Further, do not let it be your trouble because it leads to evil to your fellow Christians. They see your mournful face and they are very apt to catch the infection. Some of you remember dear old Mr. Dransfield, our beloved elder who has gone to Heaven. Whenever he used to come into this building, it was like the shining of the sun! On a Lord's-Day morning when he came into the vestry, if it was a heavy, foggy morning, he would say to me, "Well, my dear Pastor, the morning is not very bright, but we can be very happy in our souls even on such a morning as this is. The fog cannot get into our hearts, blessed be God!" And then he would be sure to tell me some cheering thing that had happened during the week—some soul had been converted—or something that would help to gladden us all before we began the service. I have heard of deacons who have always been sure, on the Sabbath morning, to tell the minister any unpleasant thing that had happened during the week—so as to depress his spirit in order that they might feel duly miserable under his ministry during the rest of the morning. Never do that, Brothers and Sisters, but be bright and cheerful for the sake of your fellow Christians. I always think there is quite enough misery in the world without my making any more. There are more than enough wild beasts to howl in this wide wilderness, so I need not do any howling. Let us be among the people of whom it is written, "The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them." As God's great caravan of saints goes traveling through the Sahara of this world, let them make the clarion of holy joy ring out triumphant notes till the desert itself shall "rejoice even with joy and singing." …
II. SOME OF THE OCCASIONS IN WHICH WE MUST SING TO HIS NAME. The first is when our soul first perceives the Infinite Love of Jesus to us, when we receive the pardon of sin, when we enter into the marriage relationship with Christ as our Bridegroom and our Lord. The song becomes the wedding feast. How could it be a marriage without joyfulness? Oh, do you remember, even years ago, do you not remember now that day when you first looked to Him and were lightened, and when your soul clasped His hands, and you and He were one? Other days I have forgotten, but that day I can never forget! Other days have mingled with their fellows, and, like coins which have been in circulation, the image and superscription have departed from them. That day when first I saw the Savior is as fresh and distinct in all its outlines as though it were but yesterday coined in the mint of time! How can I forget it—that first moment when Jesus told me I was His and my Beloved was mine? Were any of you saved last week? Did any of you find Jesus Christ at any of the meetings last week? Have you found Him this morning? Did a blessing come to you this afternoon? Then hallow the occasion, pour out your soul before the Most High! Now, if never before, let your Well-Beloved have your choicest music! "Awake, my glory! Awake, psaltery and harp! I myself will awake right early. I will praise You, for though You were angry with me, Your anger is taken away and You comfort me." Other occasions, however, come after our first day, for with Christ it is not all joy the first few weeks. No, blessed be His name! Sometimes, however, we have our high days and holidays, when the King entertains us at a feast. It is often so with my soul at this Table. Coming to the Communion Supper every Lord's-Day, I don't find it grows stale and flat with me. On the contrary, I think every time I come, I love better than I did before, to commemorate my Lord's sufferings in the breaking of bread! And usually when we do come round the Table, we, who know what it means, feel, "Now will I sing to my Well-Beloved a song." 'Twas well that after supper they sang a hymn. We want some such expression for the sacred joy that rises in our soul at this feast. But not only when the emblems are before us, but when you hear a sermon that feeds your soul—when you read a Chapter and the promises are very precious—when you are in private prayer, and are able to get very near to Jesus, I know your hearts then say, "Now will I sing to my Well-Beloved a song. He has visited me and I will praise Him. He has made my soul like the chariots of Ammi-nadib, and where shall my strength and rapture be spent but at His dear feet, adoring and magnifying His ever blessed name?" Oh, I wish we often had broken through order and decorum, even, to give to our Lord a song! He well deserves it. Let not cold ingratitude freeze our praises on our lips. …