Shigionoth

Shigionoth is only mentioned in two places in scripture: Psalms 7 and Habakkuk 3.  Shigionoth is defined as: to make wild, exuberant praise, a prayer set to music, a vehement, impassioned poem like the book of Psalms and the prayer of the Prophet Habakkuk.  Shigionoth are hymns of praise to God. Shigionoth reveals God’s sovereign power and ability to deliver His people.  

Jesus said that the Father was searching for the true worshipers who will worship the Father in spirit and in truth (John 4:23).  Anyone who knows Pastor Steve, knows he was one of these kinds of worshipers.  Pastor placed a huge emphasis on worship.  Pastor told the Lord, when he started the church, that “..I am not going to [bore] the people with horrible music.” Pastor Steve loved to worship, he loved when God’s people entered into worship without abandon.

Worship forces us to move our focus off ourselves and our problems and turn our attention to God, Who is holy, just, and worthy of all our praise. Habakkuk knew we could shift our mood by creating noisy, exuberant soundtracks of praise. Like the prophet, we can refuse to let the failures of the present dictate the future.  This is not a denial of the facts but an acknowledgment that God is above all our circumstances.  We can break the cycle, break depression, break defeat with a loud declaration to the Lord.  Like Habakkuk in chapter 3 verse 18, we can sing with earnest emotion, “Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.”

In all times of our lives, we should go overboard in our praise and worship with excitement!