Tehillah

The other day, I sat and watched my daughter playing with an old stuffed tiger from the collection of toys I saved from my childhood. This tiger is over 30 years old; the faded, lime green, orange and yellow stripes are reminiscent of the groovy patterns in the early 1970’s. My child likes this old faded tiger more than the new toys that were given to her. She likes to wrap it up in her baby blanket and carry it around as she sings to it. So, I wonder, where does her song come from? Does she remember when I carried her around and sang to her? The joy in her eyes as she makes up new songs and sings them to the tiger is captivating to me. I love to sit and watch her play. She does not care who is watching or that the words don’t make sense to anyone but her. She just wants to sing.

God wants us to sing a new song, too. Tehillah is to sing a new, spontaneous song. It is a song from the heart. Sometimes it is called “singing in the spirit.” Tehillah takes time. It is where you set aside your schedule, your phone, your watch and just wait in God’s presence. It implies the total involvement of one’s self in praise. When was the last time you sang a new song? When was the last time you let yourself get lost in praise and worship? Forget about what the person next to you might think and spend some time in Tehillah today.

And He hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise [tehillah] unto our God: many shall see it, and fear and shall trust in the Lord. Ps. 40:3