By bro Lee Tian Seng
Recently, someone sent me a photo taken with his family in a scenic mountainous area in Australia. It struck me that God is so great and has created this beautiful world. As we consider the wonders of creation, we are reminded that our God is powerful and great. This is one of the reasons why we are drawn to worship Him. He has made all things beautiful and has been most gracious to man – He gave His only begotten Son to die on the cross for our sins.
Can one refuse to sing in the congregation of Christians when they worship God? The answer is obviously “No”. Firstly, God has commanded men to worship Him in singing.
Ephesians 5:19
Speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.
Secondly, it would be one’s desire to offer the fruit of our lips as sacrifice to God who is truly worthy of our worship.
Hebrews 13:15 By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.
The writer of Psalm 66 teaches us to praise God. Psalms 66:1-4
Make a joyful noise unto God, all ye lands: Sing forth the honour of his name: make his praise glorious. Say unto God, How terrible art thou in thy works! through the greatness of thy power shall thine enemies submit themselves unto thee. All the earth shall worship thee, and shall sing unto thee; they shall sing to thy name.
Let us see what this text says why we should praise God. It says that God’s works are awesome. As mentioned, God has wondrously created the heavens and earth, and all things. We also see His awesome works in the signs and wonders recorded in the Bible. God is also great when we read how God had subdued the enemies of Israel so that they submitted to Him. We do not see the signs and wonders but we believe (John 20:29 – 31).
Who are to worship God? God says “all the earth” shall worship Him in singing praises to Him. This suggests not the physical earth as it is inanimate and creatures cannot worship Him. “All the earth” refers to people in all nations. The greatness of God is seen by all men so all men are exhorted to worship Him.
How are we to worship God? Here the writer of Psalms 66 says we should worship Him in singing. It also tells us what kind of spirit we should possess when praising God. There are 3 things to take note:
1. Singing must be joyous
When we sing and praise God, we need to be joyful in our hearts so that our singing is joyous. It is with happy hearts that we come before God. We should not find singing a burden but a joyful thing. As we sing, we should sing while understanding every word in the song and also with our emotion.
2. Singing must be loud
The KJV version translates as “joyful noise”. It means a “shout” and thus implies loudness. I believe it is not so much as having high volume in our singing but the zeal in the way we sing. We know that we have often failed in this. At times, we sing so softly or mumble through. We are simply not energetic in our singing but lazy. If God deserves our praise, He deserves that we sing with zeal and spirit.
3. Singing must be glorious
Our focus in singing is not just in singing well but also on God to whom the praises and thanksgiving are given. We need to set our mind on God and sing aloud, magnifying our Lord God and speaking of the awesome works He has done.
In closing, may we always remember that God is great and He wants us to worship Him through singing joyfully, zealously and gloriously.
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