In Deut. 6:4-7 we find instruction that is lovely to read but very hard to implement:
“Hear 0 Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. And these words which I command you this day shall be upon your heart; and you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.” (RSV)
These words are telling us we should have spiritual matters constantly in our minds. Now, we may diligently teach the Bible to our children and may do daily readings and say daily prayers. If we do that, we will be thinking about godly things a lot. But from a realistic and practical point of view, how can we have godly things in our mind as much as these verses indicate we should?
The value of song
All of us probably have the same problem. When we’re driving around or doing our daily work, we have to be thinking about what we’re doing. You can’t read while you’re driving along, when you’re at the workplace, etc. How, then, do we continually meditate upon the things of God? The answer can be found in song –spiritual songs, Psalms and hymns.
What? Put the commandments, the statutes, the judgments of God to music? This is exactly what we find happened in the Old Testament, and the concept continued on into the New Testament.
Commandments in song
Psalm 119:52-55 provides the insight: “When I think of thy ordinances from of old, I take comfort, 0 Lord. Hot indignation seizes me because of the wicked, who forsake thy law. Thy statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage. I remember thy name in the night, 0 Lord, and keep thy law.” (RSV) Verse 54 is a key verse, “Thy statutes have been my songs.”
We have recorded 150 Psalms and these were set to music using a variety of instruments. We know that the Psalms declare God’s commandments and His truth about the plan of salvation. By learning these songs, the people could go through the day with divine teaching running through their heads. They could sing or hum the Psalm repeatedly and thereby remember the statutes and commandments of God. No doubt there were sessions when the priests taught the words to the people and then instructed them how to put the words to music, similar to our own singing classes and Bible school choral groups.
Word-music association
When music is involved, words come easily to mind. Think of how often the words of modem songs come to our minds. We have no trouble remembering the words because they are attached to a tune and most of these songs offer us no spiritual benefit. Indeed, many of the words are unedifying and clearly immoral.
Due to the nature of my work, I travel around town with an associate who listens to modern music continually. I can personally testify that almost 100 per cent of the lyrics have to do with drugs, violence or transient love relationships. I’m impressed, however, how words set to music come repeatedly to mind. We have little trouble memorizing these words.
The question is what are we taking into our minds? The benefits to be derived from rock music are minimal and we should give serious thought to turning off the walkmans and videos which fill our minds with the wrong kinds of thoughts and rhythms.
Saints sing
Isaiah says in chapter 12:2 (RSV) “Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the Lord God is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation.” We see two thoughts blending in that God is our song and our song is God. This is no trifling tune we are discussing. We’re speaking of a concept that must fill our lives and lips as we sing words of scripture put to music.
In verse 5 of Isaiah 12 we read, “Sing praises to the Lord, for he has done gloriously, let this be known in all the earth. Shout and sing for joy, 0 inhabitant of Zion , for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.” We may tend to relegate these verses to a future time when an immortalized host will sing these words with pristine beauty such as the angelic host sang at the birth of our Lord. These words are intended for us to sing now, in anticipation of the time when the Lord will indeed dwell in the midst of Zion. If we sing them with emotion and great joy now, we may sing them with immortal voices then.
Saints sing now
This is a theme which we have been hearing recently. Let us practice now, let us “do” now so that our service will carry on into the kingdom. We are not going to be magically changed when we enter the kingdom. The characters we are developing now will go on into the kingdom.
Our nature will be changed, but a liar is not going to be made truthful and a profligate is not going to made pure. Now is the time to develop a worshipful attitude to the Lord and it is clear from scripture that singing forms a joyful part of that worship.
Once again Isaiah emphasizes the part that song plays in the purpose of God, (Isa. 35:10) “And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.”
Usually singing is associated with happiness and joy and what greater joy can we have than to raise our voices in praise and prophecy? Clearly there is benefit in applying the word of God to song and musical accompaniment for the purpose of teaching, for encouragement, for expression of our hope, for rendering glory and praise to God and for declaring our love for our Creator.
Follow Paul’s quotes
In the New Testament the apostle Paul quotes from the Old Testament regarding song. In Romans 15:9-11 we read, “Therefore I will praise thee among the Gentiles, and sing to thy name;” and again it is said, “Rejoice, 0 Gentiles, with his people:” and again, “Praise the Lord, all Gentiles, and let all the peoples praise him.” Verse 9 is quoted from Psalm 18, where we read at verse 49, “For this I will extol thee, 0 Lord, among the nations, and sing praises to thy name.” Again, we see the incorporation of singing in offering praise to the Almighty.
Romans 15:10 is quoted from Deuteronomy 32:43, “Praise his people, 0 you nations; for he avenges the blood of his servants, and takes vengeance on his adversaries, and makes expiation for the land of his people.” Verse 44 continues, “Moses came and recited all the words of this song in the hearing of the people, he and Joshua the son of Nun.” This second song of Moses is not a pretty one throughout. It speaks of blessings, but also warns of curses which would come upon the people as the result of disobedience. Moses sung this song to the people in order that they might memorize the words assisted by the musical accompaniment.
A song of vital importance
Deuteronomy 31:19 reads, “Now therefore write this song, and teach it to the people of Israel; put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for me against the people of Israel.” There is the divine perspective. Moses is told to write a song and teach it to the children of Israel so
that they would be their own witness. When punishment came there should have been no surprise because they had been warned in advance and had committed all the words to memory.
The first song of Moses
Speaking of the songs of Moses, we would be remiss if we neglected to observe the words of Exodus 15:1,2. “Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the Lord, saying, I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea. The Lord is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God and I will exalt him.” We note that the people sang along with Moses, so obviously there was some preparation beforehand and at the appropriate time they assembled together and sang this song as a congregation. Without doubt, the occasion would have been awesome — a time of great rejoicing and thanksgiving for the great deliverance from Egyptian bondage.
Singing warning to themselves
The point is clear: divine instruction was learned and sung by the children of Israel. A tune would bounce into mind and the words would flow along. Jesus would have known them all and, no doubt, would have sung them constantly. We can do the same with our hymn books, especially selecting hymns which have words taken directly from scripture. In this way, we can recall divine teaching when we wake up, during the day at our numerous occupations and when we lie down at night.
New Testament instruction
The apostle Paul expands upon this concept of learning and teaching by means of song. In Ephesians 5 beginning at verse 14 he writes “Awake, 0 sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light. Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery; but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with all your heart, always and for everything giving thanks in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God the Father.”
A series of contrasts
Notice the stark contrasts in this passage. The sleeper is to awake from the dead, the unwise is to get wisdom, there must be no waste of time, the fool is to embrace understanding and the drunk is to abandon his wine and be filled with spiritual things. How is this turnaround to be accomplished? The answer is provided. Speak to one another of God’s word, sing spiritual songs together and rejoice together with all your hearts, thanking God for everything.
From these words, consider the important part song plays in counteracting the ways of wickedness. We need to fill our hearts with spiritual songs and crowd out the deeds of the flesh.
Avoid the world’s music
How often do we get in the car and turn on the radio only to hear the songs of the world? Isn’t that wasted time when we think of the theme of our exhortation? Why not put in a tape of hymns if we have a tape deck or even attempt to sing a familiar verse of some hymn we know and then try to analyze the words and meditate on their meaning.
A repeated exhortation
Colossians, chapter 3 adds some further thoughts to our theme.
“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teach and admonish one another in all wisdom, and sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God.”
James says “Is any one among you suffering? Let him pray. Is any cheerful? Let him sing praise.” The world’s answer to being happy is to party. If we feel happy and cheerful, let’s gather around the piano and sing the songs of Zion. How the world loves its rock and roll music! But there is no edification therein. Listen to Psalm 147:1, “Praise the Lord! For it is good to sing praises to our God; for he is gracious, and a song of praise is seemly.”
As now we concentrate our minds on the wonderful grace exercised on our behalf let us do so with a song of thanksgiving in our heart. And in the week ahead, let us use the benefits of music to keep spiritual thoughts always circulating through our minds.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One