Serve the LORD with gladness

Notice what the psalm asks for: a joyful noise. Not a beautiful one, not a trained one, not one that stays on pitch. Noise — the word covers the tone-deaf, the growly, the shower-only singers, and everyone humming over the kettle. The qualification for this command is joy, not talent, and it is addressed to all ye lands: nobody on earth is exempted by ability.

The middle clause may be the most quietly demanding line in the psalter: serve the LORD with gladness. Service, most of us manage. Glad service is another matter — the same tasks done with the resentment drained out of them. The psalm insists the two belong together, because duty without gladness curdles, and God has never wanted curdled service. The gladness is not extra credit; it is part of the offering.

So this morning: make the noise. In the car, over the toast, badly. Serve the day’s tasks with the gladness of someone who knows — as the psalm goes on to say — that it is He that hath made us, and we are His. Sheep of His pasture sing off-key all the time. The Shepherd has never once minded.