“How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land?” - Psalm 137:4
Whatever happened to congregational singing in our churches? Occasionally, you'll find a church with lively singing, but most churches have anemic congregational singing. Musical accompaniment can easily drown out the voices of the congregation because so few are singing. Why is that?
You'd think that Christians would be excited and thrilled at the opportunity to sing. We have a reason to sing! When we got saved, the Lord placed a song in our hearts. In Psalm 40, the psalmist wrote, “He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the Lord.” When God delivers you, there is an overwhelming desire to sing about it!
Sadly, this is missing in our churches. Why has the singing diminished so much?
Part of the problem is the consumer mindset that many members have. They don't come to participate, but receive. They tend to judge a service by what they get out of it. They want others to sing to them. They want to be entertained. They want the message to be short, yet inspiring. They want to leave feeling better about their lives. Of course, that is not how church is meant to be. As believers, we should gather to worship. We are not there to worship ourselves, but God. As such, it is not what we get out of the service, but what we put into the service that matters.
I think there is another issue that is keeping people from singing. It mirrors the problem Israel had when they were in Babylon. Their captors requested that the Jews sing one of the “songs of Zion.” Instead, the captives responded, “How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land?” Like the Jews, many in our churches won't sing because they no longer have a song. The devil has robbed many Christians of their song. Do this describe your life?
When Israel was in Babylon, they had no song to sing. Today, the Babylon of our sinful society has infiltrated the lives of believers, robbing them of their song. It is good to get Christians out of Babylon. It is even better to get Babylon out of Christians.
King David was a musician and songwriter. Yet there came a time when he lost his song. In Psalm 51, he prayed, “Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit. Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee. Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation: and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness. O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise.” He had lost his song. Let us learn a lesson from David. The only One who can restore a song is the One who gave it in the first place. Instead of trying to work up a song, cast yourself before God and ask Him to restore your song. Don't be content with a life void of heavenly music. Don't moan the blues when you could be singing the songs of Zion. Seek the Lord above for the song you've lost.
For the captive Jews, they couldn't sing a note when they were far from home. Brethren, this world is not our home. We have a home not made with hands. When we get home, we will participate in the greatest concert ever. I don't have much of a singing voice here, but I will over there. Heaven will be a place of glorious music. We will sing for an audience of One. Our voices will never tire. Our joy will be complete. Every believer will have a song. A song of love. A song of praise. I can't imagine how great the singing will sound over there. It is exciting to know that I'll get to join in the singing!
I think it is time to emphasize singing once more! This is one thing we can do on earth that we will get to do in heaven. Let's consider this life our practice session. The One we will sing to in heaven presently enjoys our praise here on earth.
So let's praise Him in song!
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