Singing is something I have always enjoyed. Life without music is difficult to imagine. Spiritually, singing is power and important to us spiritually. God directs us to be
passionate about singing.
GOD IS PASSIONATE ABOUT SINGING
“Sing a new song to the Lord! Let the whole earth sing to the Lord! Sing to the Lord; praise His name. Each day proclaim the good news that He saves.” Psalm 96:1-2 (NLT)
“Sing praises to God, sing praises; sing praises to our King, sing praises!” Psalm 47:6 (NLT)
In just those three verses we are commanded to sing seven times. The Bible has over 400 references to singing. The longest book in the Bible, the Psalms, is a book of
songs. We are commanded to sing to one another when we gather:
“Speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord.” Ephesians 5:19 (NIV)
Why doesn’t God just tell us to pray and preach and read when we meet? Why sing? Why does God want us to sing? One reason is that God Himself sings.
“The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness; He will quiet you by His love; He will exult over you with loud singing.” Zephaniah 3:17 (ESV)
The night before His crucifixion, Jesus sang hymns with His disciples. Ephesians 5 tells us that one result of being filled with the Spirit is “singing to one another in psalms,
hymns and spiritual songs.”
SINGING SERVES GOD’S PURPOSES WHEN WE SING WORDS THAT GOD WANTS US TO REMEMBER.
It not only matters that we sing, it matters what we sing. And the words we sing have a great impact on us that we don’t always realize. Mark Noll said, “We are what we
sing.”
“Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. Colossians 3:16(NIV)
It is the Word of the Gospel, the Word about Jesus–not musical experiences or emotional highs–that are to dwell in us richly as we sing.
We sing responding to God’s character, God’s Word, and God’s actions–especially the action of sending His Son to be our Savior and Redeemer.
SINGING CAN HELP US ENGAGE EMOTIONALLY WITH THE WORDS
Singing connects the words we sing with our hearts. Universally, music is the language of emotion. In films, the music indicates how we are to feel at that point in the
movie. Music can move us in unexpected and powerful ways. God commands us to to sing with thankfulness in our hearts to God. Our hearts are involved because music is
meant to impact us.
Music can take the words we sing and increase their emotional impact more than just the words alone. Singing can help us take more time to reflect on the meaning of
words. It can allow us to repeat them or put time between words. Also, music can magnify the emotion of the words we are singing, whether it is joyful celebration, awe
and reverence, or sorrowful repentance. Music gives us a reference point that deepens and guides our emotional response to the words we are singing.
God wants to use music, and has even designed music to break through our hard hearts and apathy, and to help us engage emotionally with His Word.
SINGING CAN HELP US EXPRESS OUR UNITY
People sing together in some strange places: Sporting events, parties, concerts, weddings, and funerals. Waiters sing “Happy Birthday” to a surprised individual. Why do we
sing?
Our singing tends to bind us together. Singing lets us spend time together communicating the same passions, the same intentions, the same purposes. The key emphasis
of the Bible is believers confessing their common beliefs together. This then means every voice matters. We are not instructed to simply listen to others sing–we are called
to sing together as we gather.
“You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.” Revelation 5:10 (NIV)
This picture of unity in heaven is not because of style of music but because of the focus of their song. The focus of the songs we sing should be: Worthy is the Lamb that
was slain. May we all sing the song of the redeemed. And sing it well, constantly, and passionately. May we sing for God’s glory and the sharing of the Gospel.
