God Loves to Sing

Kari Farnell

The local Christian radio station touts “the right song at the right time”. Often that is true; they just happen to be playing “just the right song” to meet whatever need I have at the time.  Music, as the saying goes, hath charms to soothe the savage beast.  Even David used music to soothe King Saul in his bouts of depression. 

Have you ever been sad or in a bad mood and turned on the radio just in time to hear music that touches your soul? That touches your very being? Sometimes it’s the actual music; sometimes it’s the lyrics that appeal to us. Have you ever noticed how much easier it is to learn something if you put it to music and how quickly you can learn the words?  If I mention the following brands, you will likely start singing the song in your head.  Empire flooring, Liberty Mutual, Mattress Warehouse, Farmer’s Insurance; there are many others.

via Unsplash

Deuteronomy 31:19 (The Voice)--”So I want you to write down this song and teach it to the children of Israel. Teach them to sing it, so it can be a witness for Me against them.”

Music and singing are an important to God and a big part of the Bible.  As is seen in the verse above, God instructs the Israelites to teach songs to the children and these songs are ones that will be a witness for God.  It was a convenient way to remember some of the laws and teachings of God. The entire book of Psalms is songs written mostly by David. Some ask for help, some give praise to God and still others are reflections. 

Throughout time, songs have been used to memorize things, and to rouse soldiers and villagers to arms and bravery, among other things. God has often been the architect of the music and musical occasions.  Remember Joshua and the Battle of Jericho?  God instructed the Israelites to march around the city for seven days with the first six days being led by the trumpeters sounding their horns.

via Dreamstime.com

An article I read recently entitled, “The Godly Purpose for Music” by David F. Maas, concludes with these thoughts:

God's Word has shown us the following things about music:

1. Music is a gift and blessing from God.

2. Music is a powerful, mood-altering agent.

3. Music is used to praise God and to create an atmosphere to receive God's Spirit.

4. Music involves sacrifice.

I’ve gone down this long, winding path and now get to the point of this “episode” of the blog.  One of my very favorite verses in the Bible is Zephaniah 3:17 (NIV)--”The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with SINGING. 

Knowing how God has used music throughout the Bible and how He feels about music adds so much more excitement to this verse.  God takes delight in us and He rejoices over us with singing.  He sings to proclaim His love for His own creations. 

Pexels

Let’s examine how the four points mentioned by David Mass, above, fit into this verse. 

Point 1—“Music is a gift and blessing from God”.  When God is singing over us, He is blessing us; giving us a gift.  We may not always be aware of the gift at first, but it is there!

Point 2—“Music is a powerful, mood-altering agent”.  God is singing over us to help us find peace; to calm our spirits and if needed, alter our moods.

Point 3—“Music is used to praise God and to create an atmosphere to receive God’s Spirit”. By singing over us, God is proclaiming His love for His creation and is creating in us an atmosphere to receive God’s Spirit, if we but ask for it.

Point 4—“Music involves sacrifice”. God made the ultimate sacrifice when He sent Jesus, His son, to bear the burden of our sins. God is singing over us to prepare us to receive this sacrificial gift of His Son’s death. It wasn’t our physical death (because we each will go through that), but it was our spiritual death that He took on and all of the darkness, sadness, and grief for which we are destined without acceptance of His sacrifice.

So I leave you with a mental image. When your days are rough and the road is weary, think of Zephaniah 3:17 and imagine God, sitting on His golden throne, singing YOUR name in His song!

God Speaks Through Nature

(needpix.com)

Creation Care has been the topic of sermons at our church this month. This topic brought to mind several verses about creation. Probably one of the most quoted is 

Luke 19:40--Jesus says "Listen—if they were silent, the very rocks would start to shout!". 

This is a popular verse but is often misquoted or misunderstood. Prior to this verse, the Pharisees are demanding that Jesus quiet His disciples and refuse to allow them to speak. It is then that Jesus lets them know that even if He told the disciples to be quiet, the rocks would speak. This has always been one of my favorite verses. It reminds me of so many other verses that talk about the creation and how it speaks about and even praises God.  

Psalm 148:1--"Praise the Eternal!

All you in the heavens, praise the Eternal;
    praise Him from the highest places!"

Some time ago my son, Christopher, and I were talking about the verse from Luke and this idea and he discovered some great YouTube videos that take this concept, of the rocks crying out or speaking, to another level. One person has taken slices of tree rings and plays them on a record player. (Voice of the Trees)  In another the energy emitted by planets and moons has been turned into sound. (Planet Sounds) I encourage you to watch these videos. Clearly the verse in Luke is more a reality than a metaphor. If you also consider the sounds made by the birds, the seas, the whales and dolphins, they all have their own way of singing and giving praise to God. In this video, Louie Giglio shows how the sounds of the stars and the cries of the whales fit perfectly into a song. The video is lengthy but interesting. If you're impatient to get to the song it is at 6.00. If you choose to skip to the marker, I'll explain that the sounds he is using to "create" the song are the sounds emitted by the stars' energy and the whale cries and he has them on a loop. (Louis Giglio)


Psalm 19:1--"The celestial realms announce God’s glory;
    the skies testify of His hands’ great work."

                                   (photo:  Kari Farnell)

Psalm 66:4--"The entire earth will bow down to worship You
    and will sing glory-songs to You;
    they will sing praises to Your name!"

I believe that as Christians we have a two-fold purpose in this world. One is to share the love of Jesus with others to help usher them into the kingdom. The second purpose we have I believe is that of praising God. If you think about it, we cannot usher someone into the kingdom without praising God. God clearly formed ALL of His creation with the ability to praise Him. It seems nature does not have to be prodded to sing His praises and proclaim His goodness. Often humans are the ones that shrink away from this mandate to praise God. 

The "Happy" Mountain-Peru
Photo: Kari Farnell

Let us not become complacent in doing the jobs for which we were created. Let us keep pace with nature and sing our praises long and loud to the One who created us. As the prophet Isaiah reminds us--" For you will go out in joy, be led home in peace.

        And as you go the land itself will break out in cheers;
    The mountains and the hills will erupt in song,
        and the trees of the field will clap their hands."  (55:12)

God Speaks Through Queen Esther

Were you ever in the wrong place at the wrong time? Or maybe even the right place at the right time?  I have been. Sometimes I wonder what in the world am I doing here, or why am I here? Other times, it is very clear why I am where I am. Confused? I hope not!. The scenario is a little bit like the story of Queen Esther.  

Not the picture you expected to see of Queen Esther? I must digress for just a moment. This IS a picture of Queen Esther, but not the one from the Bible. I cannot talk about the story of Queen Esther without thinking of my grandmother, who is pictured. Her name was Queen Esther; named for an aunt. Much like the Biblical queen, my grandmother was a woman of great hospitality, caring, and godliness. 

Now back to the famous Queen Esther. If you are familiar with the story at all, you know that Queen Esther was Jewish and was unexpectedly chosen to be the new queen for King Ahasuerus, also known as Xerxes. As the story goes on, Haman, side kick to Xerxes, decides to do away with the Jewish nation because he has a bone to pick with Mordecai, Esther's cousin. To make a long story short, because Esther is queen, she is able, with God's help, to prevent the execution of all the Jews and to cause the death of Haman. 

One of the passages in the story of Esther that I enjoy the most is Esther 4:14 (NIV): "For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?”

The last part of this verse was especially helpful to me as I approached my first week at a new school. After being in a Christian school and Christian atmosphere for 20 years, I was feeling intimidated and very out of place. I was unsure how I would cope with the very different tone and spiritual differences then I was used to. As the week went on and I continued to read the story of Esther, that portion of the verse really stuck out to me. "...who knows but that you have come to your...position for such a time as this?" God began to speak to me and placed a little excitement in my being to see what I might be able to do for HIm in my new bearings. Ideas began to race through my head and although they are still racing, I know that God will let me know what my place is in this position. I look forward to seeing how I can best exemplify Esther this year.