“All men on earth that live,
To God all glory give,
Praise ye the Lord;
His lovingkindness bless.
His constant faithfulness
And changeless truth confess;
Praise ye the Lord.
Here are the lyrics from Psalter #316, the shortest song in the Psalter. It makes sense that this is the shortest song in the Psalter since it’s taken from Psalm 117, which we all know is the shortest chapter in the bible. We used this Psalter number for a period of time as a doxology at our church here in Wingham, and it was very wonderful to be able to sing these words together as a congregation. Singing is enjoyable. People all around the world use singing as entertainment and it plays a significant part of our lives. We Christians have been given singing as a gift. Not just any gift, but a special gift from the Lord. Tomorrow is Sunday, and once again we will find ourselves in the house of the Lord using our gift of song to sing praises to him.
Singing shows and expresses the joy in our hearts. Hearts that sing are joyful! Singing also spreads joy. Think back to a time where you spent an evening singing to those in hospitals or retirement homes. Those times were times well spent. Although perhaps somewhat awkward to a group of teenagers at the time, I’m sure we all underestimate the amount of joy that the audience received. The blend of the holy words and the beautiful melodies is sure to arouse and spread joy! Joyful hearts sing. Singing gives birth to joy, and joy gives birth to singing.
“Is any among you afflicted? Let him pray. Is any merry? Let him sing psalms” (Js. 5:13).
Singing is a good thing! David speaks about singing several times in the Psalms, and he repeatedly expresses that he will sing praises to his Lord. We do well to follow in David’s footsteps and dedicated times in our lives to lift up our voices towards heaven. “Sing aloud unto God our strength.” “I will sing praises to the God of Jacob. My lips shall greatly rejoice when I sing unto thee.” These familiar passages should always be a reminder to us of the importance of act of worship.
“It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord, and to sing praises unto they name, O most High…” (Ps. 92:1).
Why did Paul and Silas sing? They sang for strength while they were afflicted. Perhaps a time will come when we are afflicted. Will we remember the songs we sang from our youth every Sunday during worship? Singing is not filler during a worship service. It is not something used to break up the time of sitting in silence. God commands us to sing, and we must use this precious gift of congregation singing and hold it dear to our hearts. We don’t use singing as a mean to impress God. We also don’t use singing as a way to express our emotions and feelings. The wonderful songs that we sing every Sunday are sure to be a comfort to our souls, but more importantly, they should be sang wholeheartedly as giving glory to God. How beautiful it must be to God’s “ears” to hear his chosen people join together in song, singing of his glory. When we raise our voices together as a congregation on Sunday morning, we’re joining our voices with Christians all over the world. It’s not just our voices echoing around the walls of our sanctuary, but voices echoing across the world making a joyful noise to our Lord and King.
“Make a joyful noise unto the Lord; all the earth; make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise” (Ps. 98:4).
Singing has a special way of bringing the heart, soul, mind, and congregation together. May we all be blessed tomorrow with the preaching of thy word, and thy wonderful gift of song. Singing matters, and it matters that we do it together.
Averly Kikkert
Young Calvinists 