Did You Praise the Lord?

Photo by chuttersnap on Unsplash

I love music.

I don’t play any instruments. In junior high, I played the trombone in my school’s band, but as soon as I got to high school I was done with it. A couple years later, I tried learning the acoustic guitar but that didn’t last long. My excuse for quitting is that I couldn’t figure out how to get my fingers set exactly right, but I really just wasn’t willing to commit to learning and practicing.

I also don’t sing very well. I was in choir during high school because I had to be. I was one of those voices that tried my best to just blend into the group. I wasn’t singing solos or lead parts at a concert or in front of church.

I love music, though. I enjoy songs from a variety of genres. Sometimes it’s the lyrics that grab my attention, sometimes it’s the tune—occasionally it’s both. I can listen to anything from classical music to jazz to Garth Brooks to Van Halen to rap to dubstep to slow choral hymns to praise team anthems. What some people would simply call “noise” or talking fast because there aren’t instruments, I disagree. Tune, cadence, rhythm, tone, and lyrics all go into what makes it music to me.

As a pastor, a member of a church, and a Christian, I’m glad God has put music into creation and that we can use it for his glory. Genesis 4:22 tells us about a man named Jubal being the father of all who play the harp and flute. Instruments have been around for a really long time! The psalms are often viewed as a hymnbook in Scripture. These words—emotions, beliefs, doubts, struggles, and hopes—speak to what we as humans go through in relationship with and in perspective to God.

Psalm 150 gives us content, setting, instruments to play, and a command in a song. Praise the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens. Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness. Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise him with the harp and lyre, praise him with tambourine and dancing, praise him with the strings and flute, praise him with the clash of cymbals, praise him with resounding cymbals. Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Voices plus instruments getting louder and louder as the verses add to that which can praise God. Historical instruments purposed for the worship of God were not restricted to a quiet, properly tuned piano or nothing but an organ.

What is true of music and people today? More people can record, make, and distribute music than ever before. More people than ever also have access to music, and not just the hits on the radio or the music we’ve purchased on various albums, but Spotify, YouTube, Pandora, and other websites and apps give us access to more music—either free to us with ads or at a small subscription charge. People have different music tastes, too. I doubt that’s really new, but with there being so many different artists and genres and songs from yesterday and today, it’s likely easier than ever to latch onto something particular and turn away from others. We like to be with people that have common interests and tastes. If those things are true, then don’t we as Christians who sing need to be especially careful that we don’t unnecessarily turn away from other Christians?

I love that most churches sing in their weekly worship services. Over the last 8 years in several churches, I’ve had different roles in picking the music sung in Sunday services. As much as I like it, especially connecting the songs to the sermon theme and often the “liturgical” theme like Easter or Advent, it’s difficult to pick music for congregational singing. It’s difficult not because there’s not good music and good songs, whether old or new, but because there are so many good songs. Most weeks when I’m writing sermons, a line from a song will creep into my mind and I’ll wish we could include that one in the service, too. (There’d be a lot of songs every Sunday, if I implemented that!) Thankfully there’s next Sunday, Lord willing. Unfortunately, kind of, more new, good songs will be created by next Sunday.

When you think about all of this: tastes in music, older music that was new at one point and has become familiar, newer music which hopefully becomes familiar as time goes on, lyrics, tunes, what instruments are involved, is it sing-able for a particular congregation, do the words connect with part of the service or message or Scripture, and more—this is why choosing songs for congregational singing is challenging. There are a lot of songs that I and we love. Yet at the end of the day, whether every song fits each and every singers’ favorite song list or not, was it sung to praise God? Did you with your breath and musical ability praise the Lord?