The Carol to Sing All Year Long

Season: The Wonder of Christmas | Topics: Holidays

Claire Black: Welcome to True Girl, a podcast for girls and their moms. I’m Claire Black. Together, we’ll explore God’s truth for us, one Christmas carol at a time. Cozy up. You’re about to grow closer to each other and closer to Jesus!

Welcome to the last episode of Season 22 . . . and 2025! We’ve been learning about just a few Christmas carols, but as we enter the new year, Dannah wants to talk about a song that we should sing all year long.

But first, let me tell you about something else we’d love for you to do all year long: read your Bible! Did you know that you can read the whole thing in a year? Yep, all sixty-six books, from Genesis to Revelation. Ask your mom if she’ll join you in doing that. She can help you find a good reading plan.

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And if you’re going to be a teenager soon, check out the Wonder app! It has a Bible reading plan built into it, and it has short videos that go along with each day’s reading. You can read, highlight, make notes, and more. Go to TheWonderApp.com to learn more.

If you’re not ready for that app yet, no worries. We have something for you too: the True Girl subscription box! It’ll help you get into God’s Word all year long. Right now we’re shipping The Wisdom Box featuring a new book by Dannah all about—you guessed it—wisdom. Ask your mom to learn more about it at MyTrueGirl.com.

Okay, let’s find out about that carol we should sing all year long! Here’s Dannah.

Dannah Gresh: Hello True Girl. Happy New Year!

If the house smells a bit . . . tangy . . . well, that’s the sauerkraut! I always like the tradition of food, and to me, New Year’s means fermented cabbage and hot dogs! Not your cup of tea? No worries. I also have sloppy joes cooking!

But you’re not here for that. You’re here for another Christmas carol story. I got you!

The year was 1719, and a young pastor named Isaac Watts was a little frustrated. The church music of his day felt cold and lifeless to him. He wanted people to feel something when they sang . . . to worship with wonder.

So Isaac began rewriting parts of the Bible into songs. When he reached Psalm 98, he was just simply amazed.

[pages turning]

You know, I’m gonna have to read it to you.

It’s a psalm about all creation celebrating God’s rule and righteousness. So, not the little baby in the manger who has just been born to one day reign, but the returning King on a white horse.

Did you know that one day Jesus will come back to earth? And He’ll come riding on a horse. Yeah! The Bible tells us that. Let me read how the world is going to feel when that happens. Here’s Psalm 98. I’ll read just the first four verses.

Sing a new song to the Lord,
for he has done wonderful deeds.
His right hand has won a mighty victory;
his holy arm has shown his saving power!

The Lord has announced his victory
and has revealed his righteousness to every nation!

He has remembered his promise to love and be faithful to Israel.
The ends of the earth have seen the victory of our God.

Shout to the Lord, all the earth;
break out in praise and sing for joy!

Good words! Isaac Watts read those words and imagined what it would sound like when Jesus returns to make everything new, and he wrote a song that I just I love to sing. It starts like this:

Joy to the world; the Lord is come.
Let earth receive her King!

More than one hundred years later, an American musician named Lowell Mason discovered Watts’s lyrics. He set them to music and published them in 1839.

Mason borrowed musical phrases from the great composer George Frideric Handel, the same man who wrote a really famous piece of music we call The Messiah. You’ve probably heard it:

Song: “Hallelujah Chorus” from The Messiah by the Royal Choral Society

Glory to God
Glory to God in the highest!

The reason parts of “Joy to the World” sound so triumphant is it carries echoes of Handel’s royal choruses.

Before long, churches all over America were singing “Joy to the World” every Christmas. And although it was meant to celebrate Jesus’ second coming, it fit perfectly at Christmas too—because His first coming was the beginning of that joy.

I think Isaac Watts would be so happy to know his song is still being sung three centuries later—on mountaintops, in cathedrals, in tiny country churches, and even by families like mine here on this snowy Pennsylvania farm.

And the song is true, even if you had a hard year.

I've got to tell you, I had a hard year. I’ve shared some of it with you. You know my horse Trigg died. Something about the year ending and a new one starting without him makes it sad all over again. And . . . I was robbed. That was a pretty bad day. I had appendicitis . . . and surgery! I mean, last year was not at all like I hoped it would be; that’s for sure!

But I’m ending the year with so much joy . . . true joy. Because this world can take a lot from me—a four-legged friend, my money, and even an internal organ! But, it cannot take Jesus!

Maybe you’ve had a bad year, too. Perhaps you lost a beloved pet or an appendix! Or you’ve felt fear, loss, or disappointment. Joy might not come easily right now. I get it. But here’s what I’ve learned: joy doesn’t mean pretending everything’s fine. It means remembering that Jesus is near, and He wants to be in our hearts. But, we have to make room for Him.

As the new year begins, maybe you can whisper this carol as a prayer. “Let every heart prepare Him room.” Let your heart make room for Him. Because when it does, joy will come—not the kind that fades with the season, but the kind that lasts forever. Joy in Christ.

Luke 2:10 says, “I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.” That was the angel’s announcement on the first Christmas night, and it’s still true.

Jesus came—and He’s coming again! For that reason, our joy can last forever, and we can sing “Joy to the World” with all our hearts!

Song by Shane & Shane: “Joy to the World”