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REFLECTION

“Tell out, my soul” is the theme for our reflection. Tell out means to proclaim, confess or express one’s state of mind or emotions. The soul is the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being, that which confers individuality and humanity, often considered to be synonymous with the mind or the self. “Tell out, my soul” means a person proclaiming or expressing his or her state of affairs. What could be the state of affairs of person that would require his or her soul to make a proclamation or a confession? The focus of our reflection is to encourage ourselves or our souls to tell out the salvation and wonderful works of the Lord through songs of praise and adoration to God.

Dear friend in the Lord, Isaiah assured the Israelites in the previous chapter that God will rescue them from the Assyrian empire, raise for them a Saviour from the root of Jesse and then bring the remnant back home to Jerusalem. Isaiah 12:1-6 assured the remnants of Israel who will return from the Assyrian captivity that song of joy, praise and salvation will be on their lips. In other words, their souls will be preoccupied with the songs of salvation to the glory of God thus, Isaiah’s wrote ” In that day you will say: “I will praise you, LORD. Although you were angry with me, your anger has turned away and you have comforted me. ² Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The LORD, the LORD himself, is my strength and my defense; he has become my salvation. (Isaiah 12:1-2) This is a strong or firm indication that it is never the will of God for His children to remain in captivity as a result of their disobedience. God may be angry with us but His love and mercy overshadows His anger. Similarly, we must also tell out His love and mercy because we deserved to perish in our sins or be condemned for our disobedience but “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. (John 3:16-17)

Our souls have every reason to tell out or proclaim the salvation of the Lord, for we were once lost but have been found, dead but have been made alive. Our souls must join Isaiah and the remnant of Israel to sing “Give praise to the LORD, proclaim his name; make known among the nations what he has done, and proclaim that his name is exalted. ⁵ Sing to the LORD, for he has done glorious things; let this be known to all the world. ⁶ Shout aloud and sing for joy, people of Zion, for great is the Holy One of Israel among you.”(Isaiah 12:4-6). In fact we have no other business in this world but to endlessly glorify God through a life of sing His praise as it was done in Heaven when the Angels announced the birth of the Saviour. We are told, “Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, ¹⁴ “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” (Luke 2:13-14) Again, just as Isaiah spoke about the salvation of the remnant from the Assyrian Captivity which will culminate in a song of praise and salvation, John also assured us of our salvation which will end in songs of praise. In Revelation 15:2-4 John revealed to us, “And I saw what looked like a sea of glass glowing with fire and, standing beside the sea, those who had been victorious over the beast and its image and over the number of its name. They held harps given them by God ³ and sang the song of God’s servant Moses and of the Lamb: “Great and marvelous are your deeds,
Lord God Almighty. Just and true are your ways, King of the nations.
⁴ Who will not fear you, Lord, and bring glory to your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous acts have been revealed.” In other words, our daily activity in heaven is to sing songs of praise or adoration before the throne of our Saviour. We must start practicing and proving our worth as people who have been saved by proclaiming the wonderful works and salvation of the Lord as we prepare to depart from the world into eternity. We must sing of His praise and cause our souls to tell out His salvation as it was beautifully done by the Psalmist in Psalm 22:23 when he sang “I will declare your name to my people; in the assembly I will praise you. ²³ You who fear the LORD, praise him! All you descendants of Jacob, honor him! Revere him, all you descendants of Israel! What excuse do you have for not praising the Lord consistently? What is preventing you to join the fellowship of believers to proclaim the goodness of God and to praise His Holy Name among the living and the nations? Jesus admonished us that if we who have been created in the image and likeness of God and have been given souls to praise His Name “… keep quiet, the stones will cry out.” (Luke 19:40). In other words, if human beings fail to acknowledge and praise God, other creations will do so, and if we fail to do what we have been created for, then what business do we doing in heaven since that is our core mandate there? We are greatly encouraged to be intentional about telling out or proclaiming the redemptive and mighty works of our Lord through singing and proclamation of the Word of God.

In summary, for all the Lord has done and continue to do in our lives, we are greatly encouraged to tell out the salvation and wonderful works of the Lord through songs of praise and adoration. Again, we must always remember that we have been created to praise God and tell out His mighty works because after our bodies have been buried or destroyed, our souls will continue to praise Him.

PRAYER
Holy Spirit, empower to live a life of praise. Amen.