Here in Psalm 45 we have some principles for composing praises to the Lord. The first principle is that the heart is bubbling over with a good matter. When we look into the entire Psalm, we see that this good matter concerns the King and the Queen. The King, we know, is Christ, and the Queen is the church; hence, the good matter with which the heart of the Psalmist bubbles over is Christ and the church. We do need something concerning Christ and the church bubbling over within us. This word “bubbling,” which in the King James Version is translated “inditing,” means “boiling up” in the original language. Something is so burning within us that we boil or bubble over. We need to be burned with the good matter of Christ, the King, and we need to be burned with the beauty of the church, the Queen. We need to be so burned that our heart simply bubbles over. This is the first principle of composing praises to the Lord.
Brothers and sisters, if you come to the meetings and do not have anything bubbling over within you, you are certainly wrong. I say this politely. If I were not so polite, I would say (forgive me) that you are dead. You are not only wrong, but dead. Why are you so quiet in the meetings? Do not say that you are just “being nice.” If so, you are deadly nice. I hope that you will be nice in a living way. If we would praise the Lord, we need something bubbling over within us. Of course, this requires experiences.
The second principle concerning the praising of the Lord is found in the Psalmist’s statement, “I speak what I have composed.” The Psalmist has prepared something, he has composed something to speak. What he speaks is what he has already composed. So we all need to learn how to compose. Do not compose in the meeting—that is too late. You must bring to the meetings what you have already prepared and composed before coming. First Corinthians 14:26 says, “When ye come together, every one of you hath a Psalm, hath a teaching, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation.” This verse clearly indicates that at the time of meeting those who gather together already have something. It does not say that everyone will have something, but that everyone has something. When you come to the meeting, you should be able to say, “Hallelujah, I come to the meeting with a praise already composed. I speak what I have composed.”
I do not mean that we must compose our praises with knowledge in our mentality, but with experiences in the spirit. For example, consider the knowledge we have just received in the past chapters concerning the incense. We should not compose praises simply according to this teaching. We need fresh composition drawn from our fresh experiences. Perhaps in the past few days you have experienced the sweet odor of the incense expelling the enemy. Whenever you utter something as incense to the Lord, the evil one is driven away. You have learned this experientially; therefore, you need to compose something out of this experience as a kind of new and living composition. When you come to the meeting you can offer this at the proper time as a bubbling over of what you have already composed. Our meetings then will all be new—not new in doctrine, teaching or knowledge, but new in the freshness of praises from our current experiences. We must forever gather new experiences and put them into praise, either by singing, testimony, or worship directed to the Lord Himself. We all need such preparation for the meetings.
This is a matter for professionals, and this is our profession. Our job is the priesthood; we are all priests of God. As priests we need to be professional, we need to be expert in burning the incense. From this there is no vacation: every day is a day for exercising our profession in composing praises to the Lord from our fresh experience.