All the earth bows down to you; they sing praise to you, they sing the praises of your name. Psalm 66:4
I love to think about Sunday Morning worship from Gods perspective—particularly as it relates to music. With this scripture from the Psalms, I try to imagine the sweet prelude from a chorus of songbirds too numerous to count. I picture the singing winds that sway the trees and rustle the shrubbery; the tinkling of babbling brooks and the rush of mighty waterfalls. Then comes the crescendo—the wondrous sounds of literally millions upon millions of voices around the world being raised in praise and adoration. Such powerful imagery! I cannot imagine the pleasure this must bring to God’s heart—the whole of his created earth bowing down.
We were made for music. Originating from God, it is an intrinsic part of our human experience. Music gives voice to our emotions; it represents what is felt in the heart, and brings expression to what lies at the seat of our soul. It is the connecting of our minds and souls with the Holy Spirit of our living God.
Worship includes and honors our singing faith. How naturally it spills out of us as we seek to bring praise and honor to the Lord. God has fashioned our voices for worship. We worship him through the proclamation of his Word, through petitions of prayer, and in a most flourishing way—through the singing of hymns and spiritual songs. It is a circular offering that flows in a particular direction. At the very heart of our musical worship lies praise and testimony—not performance!
I’ve always pictured it this way: From our deep and abiding love for our Lord, we are lifting our voices, not outward but heavenward, toward God, in order to allow for the co-mingling of God’s blessing to fall afresh upon His people. That’s when our holy, God-filled music can move a heart, stir a soul, or reassure a troubled mind. Carried along those swirling notes is the opportunity for the Spirit’s mighty rushing wind to blow through the temple of our hearts—to invite, to convict, to create a new song in the life of a believer.
Every human journey is marked by music. Our initiation begins with a life-giving prelude: the steady drumming beat of a mother’s heart echoed in the womb. From there we are soothed by the soft lullaby’s of infancy, and the rhythmic play of nursery rhymes as toddlers.
The interplay of music and memory strikes a chord that lasts for a lifetime. We learn and remember best through music—“The Alphabet Song” and “One, Two, Buckle My Shoe” for the preschool child. Then along comes that dreamy “puppy love” stage, soon followed by teen dating—a mix of heart throbbing songs that never escape our memory.
As young adults we will always remember the influence of music upon our lives and the nearly doctrinal statement of “our song” for a couple. When we cannot find the right words or the courage to say them, music can sometimes express it best—and the body sways in agreement, carrying us away to a different place in time.
With time and distant memory, the aged may not recall everyday details like names or what they may have had for breakfast, but they are likely never to forget the stanzas of their favorite hymns. This God-infused phenomenon is something I personally witnessed while caring for my mother suffering with Alzheimer’s disease. She didn’t know my name or even who I was, but whenever I would turn on the “Old Standards”, she knew every title and verse!
Likewise, worship music sets the tone for not only offering a plain understanding of basic theology, but also through repetition, we more easily remember the truths of scripture. This helps us to recall a word of encouragement when it is needed either for ourselves or for others.
Years ago, I was traveling out of state to visit an old friend who was newly diagnosed with congestive heart failure. I remember arriving at her house, lying down beside her on the bed, opening up my hymnal and simply singing to her. It was a powerful moment for both of us. Hymns are my sticky “notes”! They cling to me and I sing them daily around the house.
God indeed created the human heart for music. It holds the power to move us, speaking deep into our inmost places. We weep with the beauty of it, shout with the joy of it, and can be overcome with the emotion produced by it. There are times in worship when I have been momentarily unable to sing because the beauty of the words literally catches in my throat and stings my eyes with tears. It is a pause born of a benevolent God, just feeling the wonderment of His love for us.
Music can add to the lilt in our voice and the song in our step. It carries us through our days bringing joy and pleasure and significant meaning. It is a familiar and steady companion. Music is also given a prominent role in some of our most treasured moments—our carefully selected wedding songs and funeral hymns.
In essence, music is communion…it is a sacrament of the soul, breathing life and lifting spirits. Music shall ever remain a deep and abiding expression of our faith. Its language and rhythms, its historical continuity, speaks intimately about our human capacity to connect with God in such a marvelous way. We have been given this particular component of worship as a gift for connecting heart and mind with the very heart of God.
Have you ever randomly opened your Bible and found a passage that was meant specifically for you, in a particular moment or season of your life? You just know, beyond any doubt, that God was directly speaking a word into your life. I believe he speaks to us in the very same way through sacred music. Sometimes when I’m feeling most joyful, a treasured hymn will play and I’ll begin to belt it out in adoration and thankfulness to God!
But then there are other times, numerous times, when I’ve been feeling hurt or afraid, or guilty over some transgression and I’ll turn on the radio—and BOOM! Here is a song I just happened upon, that I needed most to hear in that exact moment. When that happens, I am often reduced to tears, because I am feeling overwhelmed by his great goodness and mercy. His touch is so personal. The grace of God at work in our daily lives is in total and perfect alignment. God does nothing randomly or haphazardly. He is perfect, and so his plan is perfect—he knows our need and he fills it with his powerful presence.
That powerful presence is what has led to a reservoir of riches that reside within the wide world of hymnody! From ancient psalms, to gospel spirituals, to contemporary hymns, we wade deeply into theological implications of worship music that adds and even multiplies a life lived through faith. These are words and tunes born out of a searching heart, then a finding heart, followed by an intimate knowing on the part of the hymnist—which in turn, continues to expand and connect us through our shared human experience. Music sings its reverberations down through the ages! We know of what the hymnist speaks because we have felt it for ourselves.
Our hymnals are not merely a book of songs, they are books of poetry and prayer, of praise and worship. They are a sacred record of faith and testimony, echoing the truths of scripture and are most profitable for our use. Like the Bible, hymns are never out of style. They are eternal in truth, in their convicting power to save, and in their relevance for every generation.
Many hymnals include worship service materials, and statements of faith. You can read its accompanying liturgy in proclaiming your beliefs and reaffirming your faith. The hymns themselves can be spoken as a prayer rather than sung. Reading the lyrics can be used as an act of praise and adoration, to exalt and glorify who God is, and what he has done for us. When you come seeking comfort and assurance, you will find it in abundance throughout the pages of these living words which have stood the test of time.
God’s Holy Writ remains preeminent over all things, however, by keeping the hymnal properly placed alongside the Bible, it compliments the truths found in scripture. It supports and displays the many ways in which God speaks and interacts with us. Hymns are a deeply personal accounting of the writer’s experience, but it also speaks to the world through our common thread of experience. We come searching it’s pages and leave comforted and inspired. It brings connection, joy and gratitude for these words that were poured out from a heart bubbling over with the nearness of God.
Hymnals will never lose their application for us. They are books of testimony, a record to be treasured. They express the truth of our faith as we allow God to work in our lives. It pulls back the curtain of an historic account of human love and encouragement through the many walks of faith from ages past, and we find ourselves lifted up in the echoes of their writings. It is a telling and re-telling of the character of God; a theological avenue to understand the mighty power and love of God within the human soul. It is a storehouse of deep faith that sings its way into the hearts of others—from composer to congregant.
We have tasted the sweetness of a simple truth: That the living of our faith warrants the singing of our faith—with emotions that stir and find common expression among Gods people. God never changes. His truth remains steadfast and he gifts us in abundance. How grateful I am for the voluminous records of hymnody that exists.
I love to peruse the dusty old shelves of vintage bookstores in search of hymnals. I become entranced with their worn, yellowed pages and the shaky handwriting of comments. I stand there marveling at the thought of whose hands may have held this book and turned its pages. One day I want to frame and hang some of my favorite “vintage” hymns.
When my mother was in hospice during her last days, I typed up the verses to the hymn, Abide With Me. I chose a beautiful font and luxurious paper, then placed it in a large frame by her bedside. It was as much for the family as it was for her. I still have it and treasure its memory.
How grateful I am for all that share their gifts of music, be it voice or instrument. Pianos and brass, guitars and drums, all strumming with the heartbeat of praise and worship, like a sung sermon, it moves and molds us. I am also grateful that God has graced every one of us with a specific musical instrument: our voice. No matter how you may think you sound, to God it is beautiful!
Let me ask you this: What was your reaction to your child’s school or church choir performance, a concert or a play? Were you not overjoyed? Was it not the tear-staining sweetest sound you ever heard!? Of course it was! This is your beautiful child we speak of!!
And that’s exactly what God hears! He leans in close to his child, he wants to hear your voice. And He rejoices, truly he does! What he hears is a heart full of love being expressed through the sweet aroma of praise. It’s music to his ear, this voice he created, that is being used for the purpose of praise and worship, for his honor and glory! Scripture teaches that singing and making music is God’s commandment to us. So when we sing and play instruments, we are being faithfully obedient to his Word. Yes! To sing is to worship!
Oh for a thousand tongues to sing our great Redeemer’s praise…
Let us give thanks for the many blessings of those so moved by God’s presence in their lives, that they were inspired to write these cherished hymns from the most ancient of days, to today—and even for those yet to be written, for God never stops speaking to the hearts of His people. One day we will join heaven’s unending choir, the one that never ceases singing their praise and alleluia’s. Here, we will be able to be quite vocal in our boasting, as we sing into eternity the worthiness of The Lamb that was slain.
The world does not bid you sing, but God does. Song is the sign of an unburdened heart; then sing your songs of love unbidden, ever rising higher and higher into a fuller conception of the greatest, grandest fact on the stage of Time—God is love. Oswald Chambers