Plummer has a very keen and pertinent heading for his chapter on this
verse, and it is noteworthy that he devotes an entire chapter to this
one verse, a verse that is little understood by most interpreters. His
heading is this: “Worship the Best Outlet and Remedy for Excitement. The
Connection between Worship and Conduct.” Certainly oaths are not the way
to express one’s emotions, whether one be angry or merely excited, least
of all when one has the miserable habit of profanity and is unaware of
his foul speech. And yet it is not wrong to express one’s feelings.
There is no merit in the self-repression of the cynic or the stoic. “Let
the expression of strongly excited feelings be an act of worship”
(Plummer). This is an intensely practical point.
“Is any among you suffering?” And what church or community does not have
one or more of these occasional or chronic sufferers? The word has a
wider meaning than mere bodily sickness. Paul uses it for suffering
hardship as a good soldier (2 Tim. 2:3, 9; 4:5). It includes any kind of
ill of body or mind. It means, literally, having hard experiences, and
it refers to natural depression as a result of such misfortunes. The
remedy is not in despondency or in suicide. The remedy lies in prayer.
“Let him pray,” let him pray as a habit (present tense of durative
action). Prayer is a blessing to the heart and to the mental life. It is
good to talk with God. The worry disappears in God’s presence and often
the very ill itself disappears. But if it does not go, he gives grace
sufficient to bear the burden. So then prayer is the proper outlet for
the depressed Christian.
Here lies one of the great blessings of public worship in the house of
God. The tired soul finds rest in prayer in the house of prayer. There
is comfort in secret prayer and in family worship, but the man makes a
tremendous psychological blunder who cuts himself off from the spiritual
tonic of the public worship of God. Those in charge of that worship
should never fail to have in mind such persons who come to church
seeking comfort and strength.
But some hearts are overjoyed and feel like giving expression to their
joy in unusual ways, almost in ecstasy. “Is any cheerful?” There are
many in happy mood, in good spirits or “good cheer” (cf. Acts 27:22,
25). These are in good health of soul and perhaps also of body. “Let him
sing praise.” The word originally meant to play on a stringed instrument
(Sir. 9:4), but it comes to be used also for singing with the voice and
the heart (Eph. 5:19; 1 Cor. 14:15), making melody with the heart to the
Lord.
There is a wondrous exaltation of soul in the public praise of God. The
combination of instruments and of voice enables the soul of man to pour
itself out toward God in richness of praise. This is far better than the
reckless, unrestrained ecstasy of overwrought emotionalism. Plummer
notes properly that there is no merit or demerit per se in excitement.
The wild dervish commands only astonishment, not sympathy. Religious
excitement may become the occasion of bringing discredit upon
Christianity, even when it represents real fervor and an element of
worship. The spirit of man cannot always be restrained. Under the
preaching of Wesley and Whitefield the audiences were sometimes carried
to excesses of emotion. But far better this than the deadness and
coldness of mere formalism. Revivals occasionally have been marked by
such excesses, like the “Jerks” in Kentucky one hundred and fifty years
ago when, however, real change of life took place.
There is wisdom in the words of James here. Let the religious emotions
find expression in prayer and praise. The effect is not only good for
the moment but is good for conduct and life as a whole. If we could only
manage somehow to turn some of the energy that goes into our activities
into religious worship, certainly the effect would be more wholesome all
around. People cannot help a measure of excitement. Some of it is good
for them. There is tonic in communion with God, tonic for soul and body.