We see songs of deliverance from Genesis to Revelation.  Whenever God comes through and a prayer is answered, a melody is not far away.  The Spirit seems to form the words from the grateful worshipper, God is praised, and his truth reaffirmed.

Remember the Red Sea?  The Egyptian army on one side, the Red Sea on the other, and seemingly no way out?  But Israel was told, “stand firm and see the deliverance of the Lord.  The Egyptians you see today you will never see again.  The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.

And then a strong east wind drove back the sea all night long, and turned it into dry land.  The waters were divided, and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left.  When the Egyptians tried to follow, they were drowned.  The entire army of Pharaoh was drowned.  Not one of them survived.  (Exodus 14:13-28)

What happened next?  A song, that’s what!!  Singing became the natural expression of praise to God from a redeemed people.

Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the LORD :

“I will sing to the LORD, for he is highly exalted.

The horse and its rider he has hurled into the sea.

The LORD is my strength and my song;

he has become my salvation.

He is my God, and I will praise him,

my father’s God, and I will exalt him.

The LORD is a warrior;

the LORD is his name.

God has delivered you.  You were dead in your sin, and he has now made you alive in Christ. You have been brought back to life!  Do you feel a song coming on? Don’t fight it. Sing from the top of your lungs! “He is my God and I will praise him!”

From Walt Harrah

Sing to make Satan angry. He has vexed the saints, let us vex him!

C. H. Spurgeon

It’s been said that Satan was a musician. We don’t really know, but music that glorifies God must really annoy him. For instance, when we sing, “Be still my soul, the Lord is on thy side; bear patiently the cross of grief or pain,” Satan knows he has just suffered a setback in his plans.  He has just lost ground in messing up the life of a saint.

Christian song has traditionally been a vehicle for expressing truth about God. It finds ways to expound on what we have experienced, connecting that experience to God’s character. For instance, when we sing blessed be your name on the road marked with suffering, we are acknowledging two truths. One, trouble is coming, if not already here. And two, it doesn’t have to take us down. We know that God is going through the trial with us. We are not alone. And victory is ours, we can actually be “more than conquerors through him who loved us.”  Defeat is not a given, because of what Jesus has already  done for us, and the triumph of the grave.

So go ahead. Sing at the top of your lungs.  Don’t hold back.  Satan can scream all he wants. He’s a paper dragon, already defeated.  His doom is sure.  Our future in Christ is just as sure.

From Walt Harrah

“A person who gives this music some thought and yet does not regard it as a marvelous creation of God, must be a clodhopper indeed and does not deserve to be called a human being; he should be permitted to hear nothing but the braying of asses and the grunting of hogs.”

So said Martin Luther, no slouch of a musician in his own right. Imagine this world if there was no music. No culture has ever existed without song of some sort. It just isn’t possible. And when music and and a big view of God get together, something wonderful happens. True worship happens, and we are linked with heaven itself in some mystical way.

Eugene Peterson says that “persons who worship sing.  In the church’s life hymnbooks are prayer books.  Worship stirs deep responses of adoration which are formed into rhythms and melodies of gratitude, and enlists the voices of creatures from every corner and century, putting them tunefully to work in praise.” 

May PRAISE THE LIVING GOD be a great assistance to that end, the worship of Almighty God.  Happy worshipping.

From Walt Harrah