Did You Forget to Sing?

This month we are working our way through Hebrews chapter 11 in the sermons. Last Sunday we saw that saving faith sees God’s promises from afar, with spiritual eyes, and embraces them, and perseveres. Saving faith is not indifferent or apathetic to God and his word, but delights in him. So we asked, In our lifestyles and habits and patterns (the liturgies of your life), are we conditioning our souls for delight in God or indifference to God?

And if you were to ask, Well, how do I condition my soul to delight in God? My first summary answer would be God’s appointed means of grace for the Christian life — that is, hearing God’s voice in his word, having his hear in prayer, and belonging to his body in the fellowship of the local church. In other words, cultivating and practicing various habits of grace, for availing ourselves of God’s ongoing grace — in his word, prayer, and fellowship, and doing so from a posture of desire and delight, not indifference.

But what I want to add this morning — as an exhortation — is something that came up in our community group this week. We took turns answering the question,

“What are you doing, or what habits do you want to cultivate, to condition your soul to delight in God?”

Many good answers followed, but a few mentioned the power of music, and singing in particular.

God specially designed singing to condition souls to delight in him. Which is why Christians, around the world and throughout the centuries, have been singing people, and we have a book of psalms, and when we gather on Sunday mornings, we sing. (And this is why singing competitions are filled with people who grew up in church; that’s where they learned to sing. Atheists and secular people don’t sing — not like Christians.)

Now, we have two basic postures as individuals when it comes to music and song: (1) as listeners, hearers. We might hear truths about God, and promises of God, in music and words sung by others. (2) when we ourselves sing, we stir up our own hearts, with the help of music, to feel in some measure the truth about God and promises of God that we voice.

Through song, we might hear others sing of God and his word, and have our hearts awakened and warmed. And when we ourselves sing, we respond to God’s word in prayer and praise. And in the fellowship of a gathering like this, we sing together, and enjoy being part of people sharing together in God’s praise.

When we sing, we make ourselves into instruments of God’s praise. Rather than playing an instrument, singing makes our own voices and bodies into instruments.

And singing not only expresses our hearts, but also conditions us. Singing can jumpstart a dull soul, in a moment. And singing also forms and shapes our souls. What we sing today, we train ourselves to delight in tomorrow. The words and truths we marry to music, and stir our own hearts and voices to sing, condition our souls for enjoyment and delight. Singing not only expresses who we are; singing shapes who we will be.

So, the exhortation this morning is this: Remember the power of music, and singing in particular, to condition your soul for delight in God, not indifference to him. Sing on Sunday mornings. Sing in the car or the shower. Sing as a family. Sing at the kids’ bedtime. As we fill our lives with Christ-honoring music and song, we train our souls to enjoy the truly delightful. What we listen to with delight today, and what we sing, will be what we increasingly delight in tomorrow.

Let’s pray.

Father in heaven, may we not underestimate the power of this hour-plus of corporate worship each Sunday. These moments together, worshiping your Son together, are mighty means of your grace for our souls, not only sparking us in the moment, but shaping us. This corporate gathering always changes us in some degree, and especially through what we as a church rejoice in together as we sing.

Father, make us good stewards of these amazing gifts of your brilliant creativity called music and song. Use them in our lives to condition us to delight in you, rather than be indifferent toward you. Help us not to forgot what shaping power our music and our singing have. Sanctify us together through song, and as we confess before you our sins in this quiet of this moment…

Father in heaven, make us a singing people, to the glory of your Son. Soften our hearts and satisfy our souls through song, in these moments together and in moments throughout the week. Forbid that we would be dull or indifferent to you and your Son and to grace and to the gospel and to the church and to the greatest realities in the universe. Rather, tune our wayward hearts to yourself and to your promises and to Jesus, and do it deeply and lastingly through song and singing. In Jesus’s name we pray. Amen.