Come with Singing
COME WITH SINGING
A trigger of memories long buried. Strength to face another day. Celebration! A way to mourn. Call to arms. A mood changing to fit the occasion.
Music reaches down and touches our deepest emotions. It takes us to the highest heights and the deepest lows. At its best, music ushers us into the very throne room of God. At its worst, it reveals our degradation and sin. Music can heal or destroy. It can build up or tear down.
Designed to give praise to God, music serves many different functions. Some of the best known songs or psalms in the Bible are songs of victory and deliverance. There is the song that Miriam led after the children of Israel crossed over the Red Sea. David sings repeatedly of God giving him the victory over his enemies. And the redeemed of the earth are shown singing a song of victory on the sea of glass in heaven.
Music is also a call to arms. Human armies have always employed musicians to lead them into battle, but music is also a call to arms on the spiritual front. The children of Israel were instructed to march around the city of Jericho and blow trumpets for six days, and on the seventh day the walls fell.
Another little-known but powerful example of music being used in spiritual battle is found in 2 Chronicles 20:21. The backdrop to the story is that three heathen nations had declared war on Judah. King Jehoshaphat declared a national fast. A prophet told the king and the congregation that the Lord would fight for them.
The people of Judah went to the appointed spot for battle with a choir leading them. When they began to sing and praise the Lord, the Lord set an ambush against their enemies, and the heathen armies killed each other. All the people of God had to do was to collect the booty. And that took three days to do!
In addition, music drives the evil spirits away. This is plainly shown in the story of King Saul. Saul had rejected God and so was tormented by an evil spirit. Saul’s advisers counseled him to find an excellent harpist who could play when the evil spirit came upon him.
First Samuel 16 tells us that David was chosen for this task, and verse 23 says that when David played Saul was refreshed, and the evil spirit departed from him.
Music also gives us courage in the midst of trouble. That is probably why it is used in wartime. The Bible gives us several examples of God’s people singing their troubles away. David wrote many of his psalms (or songs) while he was on the run from King Saul who wanted to kill him.
Paul and Silas sang praises to God while in prison with their feet bound in the stocks. They had been locked up for preaching the word of God, and they were beaten before being thrown in jail. But at midnight, when they should have been overcome with gloom and despair, their songs rang out through the night. Music is nothing but praise to our Creator. And God is always worthy of our praise, no matter what the situation.
And Jesus Himself sang with His disciples in the upper room at the Last Supper. No doubt He needed the strength of that hymn to help Him face the cross. (See Mark 14:26.)
Since we are admonished to do everything to the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31), we must be sure that the music that we offer to God is accepted by Him.
God specifically mentions music that He will not hear: “Take away from me the noise of thy songs: for I will not hear the melody of thy viols” (Amos 5:23). Amos 5:12 tells us the reason for God turning a deaf ear to the Israelites’ music–their transgressions were many; they afflicted the just, took bribes, and turned away the poor.
This tells us plainly that we must be committed to putting away sin in our lives if we expect our music to be acceptable to God. He calls the songs of an impenitent people noise. That’s all it is to Him.
Also, in order for our music or our worship to be acceptable to God, it must cost us something. Jeremiah 17:26 and Hebrews 13:15 make it clear that praise is a sacrifice. Paul, the writer of the book of Hebrews, could well pen these words, “By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.”
Paul, who was beaten, stoned, shipwrecked, and was constantly in danger of his life, knew what it meant to give thanks to God in all things. Not just his songs at midnight in a Phillippian jail, but his entire life was a testimony of praise to God.
Romans 12:1 commands us to present our bodies as a living sacrifice to God, which is our reasonable service. Just like Paul, our lives should give witness to the power of God, and we should praise Him in good times and bad. As Job asked rhetorically, “Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and not receive evil?”
In addition, music is not acceptable to God when we use it to accrue glory to ourselves and do not give all the glory to God. John 5:44 calls it receiving honor from one another. This is sin because only God is worthy to receive glory and honor. Revelation 4:11 says, “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.”
If we were worthy to receive glory and honor, we would have to be the Creator. We have not created all things. In fact, the talents that we have did not originate with us. They were given to us as gifts to be used in God’s service.
Paul writes to the Corinthians that they should not think too highly of themselves. He asks penetratingly, What do you have that you didn’t receive? And if you received it, why do you glory in it as if you hadn’t received it? (1 Corinthians 4: 6, 7)
Since God alone is worthy to receive glory, we are to sing and play to Him and not to the congregation. Too many musicians lose their way because they become crowd pleasers instead of pleasing God. Psalm 57:9 says, “I will praise thee, O Lord, among the people: I will sing unto thee among the nations.” David does not say he will sing to the people; he says he will sing to the Lord among the people.
The story of King Nebuchadnezzar is instructive to all who are prone to praising themselves instead of God. As Nebuchadnezzar was patting himself on the back saying, “Isn’t this the great Babylon I have built?” God spoke to him from heaven and told him that the kingdom had departed from him. It was not until he lifted up his eyes to heaven and blessed the Most High and praised Him that he was restored. (See Daniel 4: 30, 31.)
It is interesting to note that when God visits judgment on a people, He specifically states that there is no music in the land. (See Isaiah 16:10.) Just imagine a state of affairs so terrible that there is no music whatsoever.
Music has the ability to set the tone for any occasion. Weddings, funerals, sporting events, parties, parades, even TV shows use music to clue the audience in as to what is about to happen. In fact, if we hear a song in a language we are unfamiliar with, we can usually still tell the mood of the song–happy, sad, pensive, or jubilant.
It is the responsibility of musicians to praise God and Him alone. Musicians are ministers who set the tone of the worship service. If the musicians have an attitude of praise, the congregation will follow suit. If they create an atmosphere of a performance, the congregation will respond accordingly. To set the mind of the hearers on things above is the awesome task of the musician.
In Old Testament days, the singers were Levites, priests dedicated to the service of the Lord (2 Chronicles 5:12). First Chronicles 25:1 indicates the sacred nature of music in the house of God: “Moreover David and the captains of the host separated to the service of the sons of Asaph, and of Heman, and of Jeduthun, who should prophesy with harps, with psalteries, and with cymbals” [emphasis mine]. These musicians were expected to prophesy through their music.
Additionally, before Elisha prophesied to the king of Israel, he called for a minstrel to play for him. As the minstrel played, the hand of the Lord came upon Elisha (2 Kings 3:14, 15). Clearly, being a musician is a high and holy calling. And God does not take it lightly.
The following is counsel to musicians who truly want to give God the glory in their musical ministry:
1. Present songs that are your testimony. This will keep you focused on the God who gave you the testimony instead of yourself. The song the Israelites sang after they crossed the Red Sea was their testimony. The song the saved of earth sing in heaven is also their testimony.
2. Think of each song as a prayer. The Psalms that David wrote are actually prayers to God.
3. Ask the Lord to choose your repertoire. He will lead you to songs that glorify Him. Psalm 40:3 says He has put a new song in my mouth. Ask God to put a song in your mouth.
4. Be grounded in the Word. “Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee,” says Psalm 119:11.
5. Ask God to give you a consistent prayer life so that you pray not just before you play or sing, but always. 1 Thessalonians 5:16 tells us to pray without ceasing.
6. Surround yourself with prayer warriors. You need people to stand in the gap for you so that your feet do not slip. The effectual fervent prayer of the righteous avails much, says James 5:17.
7. Be prepared for spiritual attack. As was stated earlier, music is a call to arms for spiritual warfare. Pride is one of the devil’s favorite spiritual weapons, particularly for musicians.
The devil himself was a musician in heaven. Ezekiel 28:13 alludes to this: “The workmanship of thy tabrets [a small one-headed drum] and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created.” A friend of mine imagines that it wasn’t too hard for Lucifer to get lifted up with pride as a musician. She can hear the other angels saying, “Sing Lu!” and that going to Lucifer’s head.
8. Watch what you say. Do not use words such as perform or entertain when referring to the ministry God has given you. Words have power. A performance gives glory to you; ministry gives glory to God.
But musicians aren’t the only ones who must be careful about giving all the glory to God. The congregation also has a responsibility to give praise to God and not to the musician. The following is counsel to the congregation:
1. Choose your words carefully when attempting to convey your appreciation of the music that was rendered. For example, you might say, “God really used you today,” or “Thank you for sharing the gift God has given you with us.” Some other appropriate expressions might be, “Keep singing (or playing) for the Lord” or “That was what my soul needed.” By expressing your appreciation in this way, you will save the musician from having to struggle against the spirit of pride that can enter through undeserved praise.
2. Pray earnestly for the musicians you know. We are exhorted to pray for one another. Paul requested prayer for himself from the congregations he ministered to (Romans 15:30 and Ephesians 6: 18, 19).
3. Ask the Lord to cleanse your heart of any jealousy you might feel for individuals who are musically gifted. You cannot pray with a pure heart if you harbor jealousy. (See Psalm 66:18 and Proverbs 14:30).
4. If God so impresses you, you may need to confront a musician in love to get that person back on track spiritually. (See Galatians 6: 1, 2)
If both the musicians and the congregation live by these Biblical principles, everyone will be in tune with the heart of God. Then true praise can begin. “Come before his presence with singing. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name” (Psalm 100: 2, 4).
*Cheryl Palmer is a freelance writer from Bowie, MD.
