Praising God is one of the most important things Christians do. While there are many types of psalms (confession, lament, thanksgiving) the word ″psalm″ literally means ″a song of praise″. From beginning to end the Bible rings in praise of God. Numerous books of the Bible contain songs of praise (e.g. Exodus 15; Judges 5; 2 Samuel 22; Isaiah 26; Luke 1:46-55). In Ephesians, apostle Paul says that the purpose of all that God has done for us in Christ is ″to the praise of his glorious grace″ (Ephesians 1:6). We're given a picture of the fulfilment of this in the songs of praise in Revelation (e.g. Revelation 5:9-14; 7:10-17).

Psalm 66 opens where Psalm 65 ended, ″ . . . shout for joy and sing″ (65:13) and ″Shout for joy to God″ (66:1). In the first section (vv. 1-12), the psalmist commands everyone to ″sing the glory of his name″ (v. 2). All the earth will bow down before God (v. 4). Some will bow down gladly because they know personally what God has done for them. Others will bow down reluctantly because they cannot deny that God's deeds are awesome (v. 3; see also Philippians 2:9-11).

When the songwriter thinks of God's awesome deeds, he particularly recalls the rescue from Egypt in the crossing of the Red Sea (v. 6) and God's care and discipline of Israel in the wilderness before they entered the promised land (vv. 9-12).

The psalmist then promises to bring his sacrifices to the God who heard his prayer for deliverance (vv. 13-15). Of course, we don't bring offerings of bulls and goats today. We present our lives as a daily sacrifice to God instead (Romans 12:1).

Why did God answer the songwriter's prayer? Because he didn't cherish sin in his heart (Psalm 66:18). John's Gospel reminds us, ″We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly person who does his will″ (John 9:31). When we're harbouring sin, we often find it hard to pray. More seriously, the Bible repeatedly warns us that unconfessed sin can be a serious barrier to God answering our prayers (Job 27:7-9; Proverbs 15:29; 1 John 3:21-22).

In many churches, basic Bible knowledge is lacking. The songs we sing, which often lack biblical content, are partly to blame for this. There are few modern songs of confession or lament. The songs we sing shape the truths we believe. It's important for Christian faith and maturity that we sing songs that will help us to continually know, understand, and be reminded of what Jesus has done for us and the character of the Christian life. In her songs, Israel remembered the time when she was a pilgrim people, enduring hard times in the wilderness on her way to her inheritance in Canaan. Similarly, may the songs we sing remind us of God's awesome deeds of salvation and inspire us to keep moving forward in faith and obedience.