“Shout to the Lord, all the earth; break out in praise and sing for joy!” Psalm 98:4
Darlene Zschech, in her book “Shout to the Lord” writes, “I think God just means some songs to be written. It’s very embarrassing when people expect some big, dramatic story about a song God gave me in a time when I just needed to hear from Him. I was simply in the right place at the right time. It just happened to come out of my personal worship time with the Lord. Desperate for His peace, I opened to the Psalms. I sat at our old out-of-tune piano tinkling the keys, and “Shout to the Lord” flowed out from my heart. I sang it over and over again and it lifted me up. Over the next few days, the song stayed with me, and it began to dawn on me that it might be a worship song.”
“Sung by over 30 million worshippers across the globe each Sunday, Darlene Zschech’s “Shout to the Lord” is one of the most popular worship songs around. It is also the song that launched the music of Australia’s Hillsong Church into the International scene. First recorded by Hillsong Worship in 1993, this song is still one of CCLI’s most popular songs for more than 20 years,” according to Hallels.com.
If “shouting to the Lord” seems a little irreverent to you, then consider the difference between the two words “at” and “to.” In Psalm 98:4, the writer isn’t telling us to shout at the Lord, but instead to the Lord, and that distinction makes a big difference. So, what exactly do we shout to the Lord?
The word “shout” in Psalm 98:4 literally means to raise a sound, cry out, give a blast, to shout a war-cry or alarm of battle, to sound a signal for war or march, to shout in triumph (over enemies), to shout in applause, to cry out in distress, to shout in triumph or to shout for joy. Based on this Biblical definition, it’s appropriate for us and we are encouraged to “shout to the Lord” for whatever it is we need, desire or would choose to claim, celebrate or praise God for.
Today, join in with all creation and all saints everywhere and let out a shout to the Lord!