RTM- All Creatures of Our God and King

This week I've resolved to memorize (RTM) one of my favorite hymns. The words open with one of the themes of Psalm 19- "All creatures of our God and King, lift up your voice and with us sing... alleluia!" The hymn goes on to declare the glory of God from the heavens and all creation, urging us to join the refrain of praise.

The original words of this hymn are credited to St. Francis of Assissi. In 2013 the talented Baird family took hold of it and wrote some fabulous lyrics to add to the original work. They take the broad creational focus of the song and narrow it down to the redeemed people of God. By doing this they show us a wonderful picture of praise beginning with creation and ending with those who have been newly created in the image of Christ. (I wrote in detail about this in a previous Sunday Singable post. You can click here to read that.)

The reason I'm memorizing this is two-fold. The practical reason is that we do this hymn often in our church and I want to be able to enhance my connection with the congregation and the Lord by breaking my connection with the printed music. The other reason is related to the lyrics which remind me of my role as a worshiper.

God calls all creation to worship Him, but I have a unique role in that. Creation worships because God is their Creator and God is worthy of that praise. But that's where it stops. I can worship God as a part of that creation, but that isn't where my worship flows from. I worship as one of the redeemed washed in the blood of Christ. It adds a very important layer to my worship. As John Piper often says, worship that flows from joy rather than duty is a delight, both to the worshiper and the object of that worship. As I'm reminded of what God has saved me from and what He has saved me to I can't help but join with creation and sing, "O praise Him!" My prayer is that you will join in that joyful chorus as well as you think on your Creator and what He has done to redeem your soul.

If you'd like to see some great resources for singing this song, just click on the link to my previous post.

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