Sing! (it’s a command)

Sing! (it’s a command)

As many of you know, I’ve been crawling  my way through the book of Psalms for over a year, using it as a pattern for prayer in my morning devotions. This journey began because my prayer life was really flat. I found myself repeating the same basic words over and over again, caught in a loop of asking God for things. It was dull and lifeless. Jesus said in Matthew 6:7 that when we pray, we shouldn’t “keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.” I felt like I was babbling, and it wasn’t good. I needed some help.

The book of Psalms was ancient Israel’s song and prayer book. So, I figured, if it’s a prayer written by David or another hero of the faith and it made it into the Bible, I couldn’t go too wrong praying it back to God or using it to help guide my prayers in a more meaningful way. It’s been an enriching experience.

One of the things that immediately jumped out at me was how often the command to sing is integrated into the Psalms. By my count, there are at least 17 instances where we are commanded (an imperative verb form) to sing.

Here are a few:

Sing the praises of the Lord, enthroned in Zion; proclaim among the nations what he has done. (Psalm 9:11)

Sing joyfully to the Lord, you righteous; it is fitting for the upright to praise him. (Psalm 33:1)

Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. (Psalm 95:1)

Sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth. (Psalm 96:1)

Sing to the Lord, praise his name; proclaim his salvation day after day. (Psalm 96:2)

Of course, this makes perfect sense since Psalms was Israel’s hymnbook. So, it’s not surprising that we’re commanded to sing corporately to the Lord when we gather for worship. But maybe there’s more that meets the eye. What if the command to sing is also an individual command to each Christian.  What would it look like to sing to the Lord as we go throughout our day or in our daily time of prayer and worship with God?

For the past year, whenever I read a command to sing in the Bible, I pause to sing. Sometimes I sing along to a worship track, sometimes I go it alone. It feels a little weird, I must confess. And I often check to see if anyone’s around. But I’m finding more and more joy in obeying that simple command in the Bible to sing—not just when I feel like it or along with the radio or when a song gets stuck in my head, but with intention to the Lord.

It’s been good for my soul. Singing has a powerful way of redirecting our attention and reframing our struggles. I think King Saul in the Old Testament was onto something. When he was troubled, he called for David to play his harp, and “relief would come… he would feel better, and the evil spirit would leave him” (1 Samuel 16:23). Even science confirms that singing “relieves stress, increases pain threshold, and helps your mental health and mood”  Who’d have thought that singing has so many benefits?

One of our goals at Bethany this year is to grow in skillful, Spirit-led worship.   To that end, our AV & Worship Arts team has put together a YouTube playlist of the songs we sing frequently at Bethany. Each week on Monday, the list will be updated and the top five songs you see will be the songs we will be singing the upcoming Sunday. How cool for our entire Bethany family to listen to the same songs in preparation for Sunday. This will be especially helpful when our worship leaders introduce a new song. We can listen throughout the week and come ready to worship together and “sing to the Lord.”

Check it out by CLICKING HERE!

Most of us sing—in the car, in the shower, at church, along with the radio or Spotify. The Psalms encourage us not just to sing to ourselves but to sing with intention as an act of worship to God. We do so corporately at church, but we can also do so individually and in private.

So, SING (it’s a command).  If you’re shy or self-conscious, wait until no one’s around and let it fly. And if  you can’t sing well, remember you can alway “Make a joyful noise unto the Lord.” Psalm 100:1 KJV

13 thoughts on “Sing! (it’s a command)”

  1. The worship team does a wonderful job. I do believe the ministry would be enhanced however with a hymn a week.
    Hymns cover a wife diversity of topics such as prayer, worship, joy, thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, the resurrection, etc. popular music does not cover such a wide variety of important topics. Songs should be easy to sing along with too and most hymns are. Just my thoughts but I am s strong advocate of hymns and the history of the faith that they provide.

  2. I don’t often comment on music preferences because it can easily become divisive. But in this case I will suggest that we give some additional thought to Gerald’s comment. In addition, I would also like to express my appreciation to the musicians for their commitment and skill.

  3. I appreciate the modern worship music to sing a long to in my car as well, and I really, really love so many of the songs! I was also thinking…that at church it would be nice to sing some hymns because of the theology as was mentioned in Gerald Graham’s comment. I grew up singing hymns in church, and while not as emotionally exciting to sing…they have great wisdom in the words. A little more of a mix of both would be great! Singing by myself is the only way I typically sing. But God hears our hearts and doesn’t mind how we sound! Thank goodness!

  4. I agree…i love the hymns of faith as well. How they tell the story of our faith. I listen to them each Sunday. I also love the songs on Sunday too. Sometimes the words move me to cry with Jesus love. Both are so wonderful and i believe important. I am old (er) with a young heart! 🙂 But i do agree.
    I was actually dancing along with the first video of Phil Wickham song and his words also were a message of what every Christian needs to believe.
    Sing JOYFULLY to the LORD…we will for all eterenity!

    1. I don’t always have the opportunity to attend and I am new to the church, but I have been wanting to suggest incorporating some hymns in worship. Even though for example Amazing Grace has been redone and we use the new version ,somehow the hymn seems to touch the heart. It makes you think, so many of the hymns seem to do that. I’m kinda a people watcher and noticed they touch the heart and can make you feel thankful what you have or what you’ve been through, because it brought you where you are today or where you will be tomorrow!

  5. While I generally appreciate our music mix, it would be especially meaningful to those of us in the “older generations” to be able to sing a hymn each Sunday. Since we have expanded the number of songs sung each week I’d like the music teams to consider doing a hymn each week. There is so much good theology in the old hymns that we are missing when we no longer sing them.

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