Why Are We Singing Again?

PASSAGE FOR THE DAY:
1        Sing to the LORD a new song;

    sing to the LORD, all the earth.

2        Sing to the LORD, praise his name;

    proclaim his salvation day after day.

3        Declare his glory among the nations,

    his marvelous deeds among all peoples.

4        For great is the LORD and most worthy of praise;

    he is to be feared above all gods.

5        For all the gods of the nations are idols,

    but the LORD made the heavens.

6        Splendor and majesty are before him;

    strength and glory are in his sanctuary. 

7        Ascribe to the LORD, all you families of nations,

    ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.

8        Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name;

    bring an offering and come into his courts.

9        Worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness;

    tremble before him, all the earth.

10      Say among the nations, “The LORD reigns.”

    The world is firmly established, it cannot be moved;

    he will judge the peoples with equity. 

11      Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad;

    let the sea resound, and all that is in it.

12      Let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them;

    let all the trees of the forest sing for joy.

13      Let all creation rejoice before the LORD, for he comes,

    he comes to judge the earth.

He will judge the world in righteousness

    and the peoples in his faithfulness. (Psalm 96, NIV)

 

THE BIG IDEA:
Worship the Lord, and rejoice in that worship, not because we get something out of it, but because He is worthy.


REFLECTIONS:
There are a lot of specific words I like in this passage. “Sing” is an obvious one. So is “new,” although I think sometimes we interpret that word too narrowly—usually we (and as a worship guy I have definitely been guilty of this) take this to mean literally a new song, as in, not an old one (whatever “old” means). Nowadays, however, I’m more comfortable with the thought of singing truth in a “new” way, or with a “new” fervor. In other words, whether what you’re singing is new or old, sing it with “new” oomph. Or as my godfather said, sing it like you mean it!

Truthfully, however, my two favorite words in this passage are “declare” and “ascribe.” I love the whole notion of “declaring” the Gospel—in song, in word, in deed, in our lives. Anyone who’s ever played or sung with me for any length of time will roll their eyes at my ranting about the need to “declare” but it’s absolutely true that the words we say or sing in the act of corporate worship are not meant to be empty. They are meant to be powerful, life-changing, and most important, true. 

Keep this in mind, however: God knows, whether we do or not, that words are sometimes easy to sing and hard to mean. He knows that it’s pretty darn easy for us to come to a church building (barely on time, or even maybe a little late), mumble some words that show up on the screen (or maybe not, if we don’t like that song all that much), sit and listen for a while to some guy talk (while we slyly check our twitter feed), shake a few hands (What was that guy’s name? The one I’ve “met” 3 weeks in a row?), and make it to the line at Luby’s before the folks from that other church down the street. Church. Boom. Done.

Is this, however, as children of God, what we are called to do? Is this how we are called to worship? Nope. And this gets to my other favorite word: “Ascribe.” “Ascribe” is a funny sounding word (granted), but essentially it means to give due what is due. In this sense, we are called to ascribe worship to the Lord for no other reason than it is due Him. And guess what? We aren’t called to do that because God gets some kind of crazy kick out of it. We’re called to do it because it reminds us who He is, and who we are in Him. 

Some time ago I read a really interesting book, A. J. Jacob’s The Year of Living Biblically. A. J. is not a believer, but as a kind of social experiment he did his best to live as close to the literal biblical ideal, as he understood it, as possible for a year. It’s a fascinating study, but the most important takeaway (to me, at least) was the idea where he wrote about praising God. Essentially, he said (and I’m paraphrasing) “I had to realize that God doesn’t need to hear our praises. He knows He is awesome. He knows He created everything. He knows He’s in control. He knows He is merciful. The reason why we need to tell Him that is so that we remember it. We hear it. We live, knowing that those statements are true.” Amen, my friends! This is good news!

So folks, strive to live the words you sing. When you sing of His mercy, be thankful, and extend His mercy. When you sing of His creation, remember to live in awe and wonder of Him. When you sing of His love, go out and live as the loved person you are. 


POINT OF ACTION:
1. Challenge yourself to prepare your own heart as you come to a corporate worship gathering. Come with your own junk, your own hang-ups, your own sins, sure, but don’t come without pondering His goodness to you. And maybe that could include coming on time. Or even early. 

2. Strive to make a regular, corporate worship gathering not the only time when you are a worshipper, but instead strive to make your participation in a corporate worship gathering a reflection of the rest of your life as a worshipper. 

3. By all means, sing loud. And often.


PRAYER:
“Father, I come trembling, but I do come. Please root from my heart all those things which I have cherished so long and which have become a very part of my living self, so that Thou mayest enter and dwell there without a rival. Then shall Thou make the place of Thy feet glorious. Then shall my heart have no need of the sun to shine in it, for Thyself wilt be the light of it, and there shall be no night there. In Jesus' name, Amen.” (A.W. Tozer, 1897 – 1963)


WHO AM I?
I’m Jim Echels. You may also call me Big Jim. Or Jimbo. Or (if you’re related to me by blood or marriage) Jimmy. I like music. There’s almost always a song going in my head (whether or not one is going on the outside), though it changes often, depending on my mood or what someone might say to me. I play guitar and sing a lot, but in my heart of hearts I’m still most at home behind a drumkit.

I’m eternally grateful for my sweet wife, who figured out early on in our relationship that if there’s music going on around me, it’s very difficult to get, much less hold, my attention. She loves me anyway, because she’s the forgiving sort, and because Jesus shines in her. She makes me way better. And probably more manageable. And she’s the same way with a weather report. Funny, that. We have two kids who sure seem musical to me (not that I’m biased); maybe the love for weather will come later.  We are currently trying to get our house ready for sale, so that we can buy a different one. It is a stressful process. This is true for all sorts of reasons, not the least of which are the aforementioned children, who are inclined to be neither neat nor quiet. So we could use some of the grace and mercy I wrote about above.