So What’s the Deal with All that Singing, Anyway?

So What’s the Deal with All that Singing, Anyway?

I’m going to be honest here.  I’m not real comfortable with this “blogging thing.”  It’s the same reason that historically I haven’t posted much to Facebook, and my Twitter account sits stagnant in a pool of it’s own nothingness.   I generally have a hard time thinking anyone would care about what I have to say, what I’m doing, etc.

The main reason I decided to start is that I have this “teacher” thing inside of me – I want people to know and understand things, especially things about God and the church.  Not to say I’ve got it all figured out – far, far from it.  This is definitely the blind leading the blind here.  But even a blind squirrel gets an acorn every once in awhile, and I feel like God has given me some acorns to share.   This is one of the topics that sealed the deal for me…  I think about it a lot; I’m passionate about it; I think it’s important – not just to me, but most especially to God.  The topic:  Worship.

Today, specifically – singing.  Have you ever wondered why we sing in church so much?  Every church does it.  There are so many styles, you can’t even keep up with it.  If there’s going to be a controversy in church, odds are it’s going to be around the music.  Some people love it – the style and song choice are things we like to listen to.  Others barely tolerate it.  They consider it a prelude to the main event – the teaching.  Kind of like the comedian that you have to sit through before the main show starts.  Still others consciously avoid it – they show up late to miss it, catch the teaching, and then leave the second the prayer is over.

There are a whole lot of things I can (and probably will, in the future) say about worship as a broader category.  Obviously, there are a lot of aspects of worship that don’t necessarily involve singing.  But if you do a simple search on the word “sing” in the NIV translation of the bible, 162 verses appear, most of them either specifically telling us to sing to God, or showing God’s people singing to Him.  To me, it’s obvious that there’s something significant about singing as an act of worship.  So what is it?  Why do we do it?  I certainly don’t have all the answers, but here are some things to contemplate.

1. Singing is Something God Likes:  The scriptures are clear that we are to worship and praise Him.  Many times they are specific – that we are to sing to Him.  He treats us the same way – Zephaniah 3:17 says, “The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.” (NIV).  I think it delights God – it touches his heart in a special way when we respond to Him with singing.  When my little girl was a baby, I’d find myself singing silly little songs to her – to sooth her; to express my love to her.  They were silly songs – many times not even making any sense.  It just popped out naturally.   I read that Zephaniah verse, and I wonder if the same thing is going on with God, but to us.  And then I think of the joy it must bring Him when we reciprocate – when we authentically come before Him and express ourselves to Him through song.  How would you feel?
2. Music is Deeply Rooted in Us Because it’s Deeply Rooted in God: Granted, style is subjective.  Everyone has their opinions  -the “my music is better than yours”  mentality.  But there’s one thing that’s certain – music and singing is deeply rooted in humanity.  We all do it.  We all like it – so long as it’s done the way we want.  From the earliest age, we sing songs and make music.  I often contemplate what it means that we have been created in the image of God.  I don’t have all the answers, but I think this is an area that we can see it in.  That natural love of music and singing that we all have comes straight from God’s image.  He could have set it up differently – he could have made it so we all naturally enjoy putting mud in our hair.  There are an infinite amount of options.  But that’s not how He set it up, because that’s not who He is.  Part of the “image of God” is music and singing.  I don’t know why – but I know it’s true.
3. God Responds to Singing in a Special Way: Ps. 22:3 says that God “inhabits the praises of His people.”  I’m no bible expert, but I read once that if you look at the original text of that verse, it implies specifically singing praise.  Think about the ramifications of that – that God somehow dwells in the atmosphere of His praise.  And in God’s presence, there is power!  Look at Paul and Silas in prison.  They sing, and the walls come down.  God is moved, and then moves when His people praise Him.  And so we get verses that say, “Let the peoples praise You, oh God.  Let all the people praise You!”  There is power in music and in song.

Now, I’m sure there’s a lot more that can be said than that… you can leave comments and let me know what all I’m missing.  But let me close with this.  We all have the penchant to be self-centered.  We live in a society that’s all about “me.”  “Have it your way.”  “I-Mac.”  “You-Tube.”  And there is a huge temptation to make music and singing in the church the same way.  We want it to be about us.  What we like.  The style we enjoy.  The way we like it.  I think that in worship, it’s vital – so vital – that we remember it’s not about us at all.  I wonder what would happen at a church service if instead of concentrating so much on what we like or don’t like about the music, we started focusing on what God would like.  When we sing a song, the first thought could be, “How does God feel about this song?  How does He feel when I sing it to Him?”  As we respond to God – to who He is and what He’s done in our lives, then perhaps we will have a new perspective on the singing.  Perhaps we won’t be so self conscious about our voices when we realize that God doesn’t care how we sound – He cares only for the heart behind what we are singing about.  Perhaps we won’t avoid the worship portion of the service, but enter in and authentically engage our hearts and minds in the worship of our God.  Perhaps we will not consider the singing like the pre-amble to the main event, but instead as an opportunity to approach the throne of God Himself, and invite Him more and more into our lives.  How much more powerful will the reading of the Word and the teaching around it be when we’ve given God his due? His praise, His worship; the gift of singing.

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