Psalms 98:7-9 (NASBStr)
Let the sea roar and all it contains,
The world and those who dwell in it.
Let the rivers clap their hands,
Let the mountains sing together for joy
Before the Lord, for He is coming to judge the earth;
He will judge the world with righteousness
And the peoples with equity.
Throughout the Psalms we are commanded and motivated to praise God. The book of Psalms not only commands us to praise Him, it shows us who should praise Him, why we should praise Him, how we should praise Him, and what specific attributes of God to praise. In the above verses from Psalm 98 we see all those given out. The seas are to praise; the people of the worlds are to praise; the rivers are to praise, the mountains are to praise Him. We are to do so with singing. Not just any singing, singing in joy ... Joy is a fruit of the Spirit, so our worship of Him is done via the ministry and power of the Spirit. We are to sing "Before Him." Therefore our worship is done as we come before Him in Faith (Hebrews 10). So, worship of God is a complete faith act, not a feeling act. We don't worship because we feel like it, or because we get a feeling from it (although we might). We worship out of obedience, by faith, in the power of the Spirit, who enables us to produce the fruit of Joy in our worship. Finally, this group of verses teaches us to worship, in this particular set of lines, the combination of His judgement and righteousness and equity. That means we are worshipping God's particular wrath that is in perfect balance with justice and mercy. In Psalms 96-98 God's wrath is specifically mentioned as a reason and object of or worship. In Romans 9 we are told that God created some vessels for destruction just to show the wrath of God and reveal His marvelous glory (Romans 9:22-23). So, we are to worship and praise God specially out of obedience and for the character of His Divine attributes. We do so by faith and in the power of the Spirit, who alone, gives us the joy to do so.
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