Articles
Sing His Praise!
Quarterly Exhortation Quarter 4 2022.
"I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise." Hebrews 2:12 (Psalms 22:22)
We don’t spend much time thinking about things that are second-nature to us. Singing is probably one of those things. It’s easy to take singing for granted. Why do we sing? Well, because… we just do. But it is worthy of some reflection. Most have listened in on a child as they awake in their crib or are at play, singing tunes and words known only to them. Amazing! Where did that come from? Surely God has placed it within us.
Birds may ‘sing’ beautifully but there is no teaching, learning or varied expression involved. If a Mockingbird is separated from its kind as a hatchling, in time he will sing to perfection all of the many songs in the Mockingbird songbook - songs he never heard before. This is an amazing thing too, and worthy of wonder. But their songs are not from a creative mind and express no intellect. As beautiful as nature’s music can be, it doesn’t compare with what God placed within us. No instrument and no lesser creature can produce our music.
Some may not appreciate singing as much as others because they can’t ‘hear’ or follow the melody as others can. They conclude that music is not one of their talents so they deprioritize singing. “Not my thing”, they say. Yet they can still teach, praise, edify, and make melody in the heart (Eph 5:19). I have long thought that those who ‘can’t carry a tune in a bucket’ can be and often are the finest singers in the kingdom of God.
Others who can hear the notes, chords and rhythms can obsess too much on these aspects of music and not enough on the message. The serious failure here is in singing without understanding (1 Cor 14:15). It is much better to sing with understanding than to ever hit a single note.
Those who become impatient when others are trying to introduce new songs need to remember that the words are most important. There will always be new words and thoughts to sing because God still places the ability of musical spiritual expression within those born in His likeness. New songs can be challenging but we can sing by reading the words because singing is more than just melody. Don’t refuse to sing. However, those who lead new songs must recognize these difficulties and insure the words are both scriptural and excellent, not just fun new songs to sing.
A few in our assemblies may sing, thinking that not doing so would be to oppose the ‘command’ to sing. Opinions may vary but Ephesians 5:19 reads as an exhortation to sing to me; an approved example. This and other New Testament writings appear to assume that worshipers of God naturally and willfully sing and don’t need to be told to do so. We read about joyful and worshipful singing in heaven (Rev 15:3). With heaven being our goal, we practice singing here.
I believe most of us don’t sing just to satisfy a command or to get all the notes right or to only speak the words. We hopefully see singing as a beautiful combination of what God placed within us – melody, thoughts, emotions, praise to God, and the desire to exhort one another in song.
Let continue to exercise our God-given ability. Wherever we fall on the scale of enthusiasm concerning the music of the church, likely none of us appreciate it as much as He who placed this gift within us does. So let us sing praises to the Lord! Let us sing because we are happy! Let us sing to encourage, to teach, to admonish one another, and to exhort one another toward faithfulness and the attainment of eternal life.
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. (Col 3:16).
Sing His Praise!
Ron
