Psalm 33
Have you ever lost yourself in a moment of joy? Maybe you hear a song you love and find yourself dancing and singing without a care. Maybe joy swells during a rich conversation with friends. It may show up as the quiet, joyful contentment you feel while reading a good book or lingering over a cup of coffee. Joy is a natural response to the good things in life. But what about when life is hard and the cards seem stacked against you? Perhaps you are in a season of suffering, and joy feels unattainable. Maybe you can’t even remember the last time you laughed, much less felt something close to joy. Whatever your current relationship with joy, there is hope.
Rich, abiding joy is accessible even when it feels like your world is falling apart. True joy, not to be confused with happiness, has deep roots in something, in someone permanent, steadfast, and reliable. This kind of joy transcends your circumstances without diminishing your suffering or minimizing your struggles. In fact, it is this kind of joy that gives you the strength to endure them (James 1:2-4). This is the joy the psalmist draws our attention to in Psalm 33.
Verses 1-5
“Shout for joy in the LORD, O you righteous! Praise befits the upright. Give thanks to the LORD with the lyre; make melody to him with the hair of ten strings! Sing to him a new song; play skillfully on the strings with loud shouts. For the word of the LORD is upright, and all his work is done in faithfulness. He loves righteousnesses and justice; the earth is full of the steadfast love of the LORD.”
From the beginning, the psalmist directs us toward a well-founded joy in the Lord, one which leads us to respond with shouts of joy, praise, and thanksgiving. Praise “befits” the upright, the psalmist says. It is the clothing that best suits those who love and rely on the Lord.
And yet, sometimes, our praise becomes rote, stale, or even compulsory. We sing songs of praise while our hearts and minds are distracted and disengaged. We aren’t necessarily cold to the Lord, just lukewarm. Praise and joy are interconnected, making it difficult to know which precedes the other. When our praise is tepid, so is our joy. When our joy is tepid, so is our praise. And so the psalmist urges us to direct our attention to the faithfulness of the Lord.
The psalmist’s instruction to “sing a new song” is a call to wholehearted worship. It’s a call to renewed awareness—reminding ourselves who the Lord is and all he has done;
renewed affection—focusing our affections on our Father, Redeemer, Savior, and Friend; and renewed action—engaging our bodies in thanksgiving through things like kneeling, clapping, dancing, or singing. All of which results in renewed adoration—a new song of joy for the Lord who is faithful, righteous, just, and full of steadfast love!
Verses 6-9
“By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all those hosts. He gathers the waters of the sea as a heap; he puts the deep in storehouses. Let all the earth fear the LORD; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him! For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm.”
In his book, Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis wrote, “If you want to get warm you must stand near the fire: if you want to be wet you must get into the water. If you want joy, power, peace, eternal life, you must get close to, or even into, the thing that has them.” Here, the psalmist brings us close to, and even into, the Lord in whom all joy is found.
The writer utilizes beautiful imagery to renew our awareness of the Lord’s power and authority over his created world—speaking the heavens and earth into existence and breathing the breath of life into all humanity. In verse 7, the psalmist says the Lord “gathers the waters of the sea as a heap” and puts them in storehouses. I’ve lived on a sailboat for the last two years, and I have become intimately acquainted with the fearsome power of the sea. It’s overwhelming and humbling to be in the midst of the ocean, with no land around, to see its vastness, to be tossed around by its power, and to be at its mercy. But our God gathers the vast, tumultuous waters of the sea as a heap and puts them in his storehouses just like a child gathers their building blocks and puts them away in their toy box!
It is normal to become overwhelmed by life and our circumstances—to feel like a row boat in the middle of the ocean, subject to the elements and tossed around by the wind and waves. But the psalmist reminds us that while we are limited in power, strength, and resources—and subject to our circumstances—the Lord is not. He is infinite in power and might. There is no end to his resources. And there is nothing in all of creation that is not subject to him. He is still the God whom the wind and waves obey!
This awe-filled truth can bring us great confidence, hope, peace, and joy—even during turbulent times.
Verses 10-12
“The LORD brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; he frustrates the plans of the people. The counsel of the LORD stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations. Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people whom he has chosen as his heritage.”
If God can so easily gather the ocean's depths and pack them away in his storehouses, can he not also reign over the most powerful rulers and nations? Nations, rulers, governments, and organizations plot and plan, but God alone determines the course of all things. And for those the Lord has chosen as his own, for those who belong to him, this is a great gift. The gift doesn’t preclude suffering, but it does provide us with confident hope that no matter the state of our life, our world, our country, or our government, God’s plans will prevail. And this, too, is a cause for an abiding joy.
Verses 13-19
“The LORD looks down from heaven; he sees all the children of man; from where he sits enthroned he looks out on all the inhabitants of the earth, he who fashions the hearts of them all and observes all their deeds. The king is not by his great army; a warrior is not delivered by his great strength. The war horse is a false hope for salvation, and by its great might it cannot rescue. Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his steadfast love, that he may deliver their souls from death and keep them alive in famine.”
The Lord looks down from heaven. He sees every single person. He looks out from his throne, where he rules and reigns. He observes every action and every deed. His gaze is especially fixed on those who love and honor him as Lord and hope in his steadfast lovingkindness. The Lord sees! He sees all you are carrying. He sees every loss, every hurt, every struggle. He observes your failures and your faithfulness. His eye is fixed on you. And he is determined to deliver you from all that assails you!
Though these words can be a source of great joy and encouragement, they can also result in confusion and frustration. If God sees all that is going on in our world and in our own lives, if he observes all the deeds of man, and if he has promised to deliver us, then why does he still allow bad things to happen? Why does he allow suffering to linger? Why doesn’t he step in?
We wrestle with God when our experience collides with his truth—especially in times of prolonged hardship. This is why it’s essential to renew our minds with the truth of God’s character and to remind ourselves of his past faithfulness. When we choose to believe—despite our fear, doubts, and unbelief—that he is for us, that all his ways are good, that he sees our circumstances and is committed to righteousness, justice, faithfulness, and steadfast lovingkindness, we stop looking to the “powerful” things of this world to save us. They are empty hopes with no power to save. Instead, we ground our hope securely in our all-powerful Father—the one who speaks and creation responds, who gathers the seas into his storehouses, who fashioned the hearts of all humanity, and who has fixed his gaze and set his affections on all those who belong to him.
Verses 20-22
“Our soul waits for the LORD; he is our help and shield. For our heart is glad in him, because we trust in his holy name. Let your steadfast love, O LORD, be upon us, even as we hope in you.”
Because this is who our God is:
We wait for him to act on our behalf.
We trust in his righteousness, justice, and faithfulness.
We hope in his steadfast lovingkindness.
We rest in our secure relationship with him as his beloved children.
And with this renewed awareness and renewed affection, we sing a new song of great joy to the God who sees us, chooses us, and loves us as his own, knowing he has never and will never forsake those who are his!
Love you guys,
CC
If you’d like to engage Psalm 33 further, take some time to work through the following exercises.
Engage the Scriptures
Re-read Psalm 33 in your favorite translation. What substantive reasons does the psalmist give for our joy?
Reflect on the imagery used in the psalm, particularly the description of the Lord gathering the waters of the sea and reigning over all creation. How might the truths in this imagery impact your ability to have joy even in overwhelming circumstances?
The psalmist calls for singing a new song as an act of renewed worship. What practices can you incorporate into your daily life to renew your awareness, affection, and actions towards God?
Explore Your Story
What is your relationship with joy? What aspects make joy feel inaccessible? What aspects of your story increase your joy?
Encounter Jesus
Which truths in this psalm do you most need to hear in this season? Find a creative way to incorporate them into your life. Write them down and put them somewhere visible; write a poem or draw or paint a picture; or write them in a letter to yourself as an encouraging reminder.
What brings you joy, whether big or small (ex., watching a sunrise or sunset, listening to music, seeing a movie, laughing with friends)? Pick one thing that brings you joy and create some margin for that next week. Then, write down ways God was both the source of and present in that joy.
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