Faithful on Fridays Blog

The last few weeks I’ve discussed the various ways we worship God whether its singing a song (shir), sometimes with instruments (zamar), blessing with humility (barak), leaping with incredible joy (gheel), giving thanks (yadah), or boasting about God (hallel); He’s worthy of every one of them.

Today’s word is ranan which means to shout for joy or cry out to God. It’s a passionate word that indicates extreme joy or overwhelming sorrow depending on your life’s circumstances. Moses used this word as he finished his song:

Rejoice with Him, O heavens; bow down to him, all gods … Deuteronomy 32:43a

David also chose ranan in his song of thanksgiving:

Then shall the trees of the forest sing for joy before the Lord, for he comes to judge the earth. 1 Chronicles 16:33

God spoke to Job of the angels:

… when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy? Job 38:7

The pinnacle of creation is mankind and we passionately ranan:

For you, O Lord, have made me glad by your work; at the works of your hands I sing for joy. Psalms 92:4

This is the highest or lowest emotion we can experience toward God and it should cause us to cry out to Him. If you’ve ever been that high or that low then you know what I mean. In the low place you find yourself powerless and hopeless unless God intervenes, therefore, you cry out to Him in prayer as Solomon reveals:

Yet have regard to the prayer of your servant and to his plea, O Lord my God, listening to the cry and to the prayer that your servant prays before you this day …
1 Kings 8:28

Or the Psalmist as he wrote:

O Lord, hear my plea for justice. Listen to my cry for help. Pay attention to my prayer, for it comes from honest lips. Psalms 17:1

Jesus was familiar with ranan as He cried out loudly from the cross:

“My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”

The Greek word for this loud voice of praise, thanksgiving, or worship is mega-phone’, obviously our word megaphone. God is painting us a picture.

Paul understood this ringing cry when he wrote to encourage the church in the region of Galatia:

As Isaiah said, “Rejoice, O childless woman, you who have never given birth! Break into a joyful shout, you who have never been in labor! For the desolate woman now has more children than the woman who lives with her husband!” Galatians 4:27

The upper story is that barrenness in any area of our lives does not have to mean brokenness.

So use your megaphone to give that ringing cry of joy like the leper healed by Jesus (Luke 17:15), the widow before the judge crying out for justice (Luke 18:7), or the blind man shouting with cries for mercy; God hears and is moved by every one.