Making Melody to the Lord

Singing is essential to the Christian life. Have you ever noticed in the Scriptures that, at crucial points in redemptive history, God’s people sing? Exodus 14 tells the story of God bringing his people across the Red Sea to escape slavery in Egypt. The final verses of the chapter summarize the event like this: “Thus the LORD saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. Israel saw the great power that the LORD used against the Egyptians, so the people feared the LORD, and they believed in the LORD and in his servant Moses” (Exodus 14:30-31). End of story? No, notice how Exodus 15 begins: “Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the LORD, saying, ‘I will sing to the LORD, for he has triumphed gloriously . . . . The LORD is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him’” (Exodus 15:1-2). The song continues for eighteen verses, recounting God’s mighty act of redemption and highlighting his majestic holiness, awesome deeds, and steadfast love.

 

Just after Isaiah peers into the future at the coming kingdom of God in which the Spirit-guided Messiah reigns with righteousness and faithfulness (Isaiah 11:3-5), filling the earth with the knowledge of God (11:9) and bringing a glorious resting place to the nations (11:10), he describes this coming salvation in Exodus terminology. God will lead his people across the Sea of Egypt in sandals, and “there will be a highway from Assyria for the remnant that remains of his people, as there was for Israel when they came up from the land of Egypt” (11:15-16). End of story? No, notice what immediately follows in chapter 12:

 

You will say in that day: “I will give thanks to you, O LORD, for though you were angry with me, your anger turned away, that you might comfort me. Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the LORD GOD is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation [the very words of Exodus 15:2!].” With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. And you will say in that day: “Give thanks to the LORD, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the peoples, proclaim that his name is exalted. Sing praises to the LORD, for he has done gloriously; let this be made known in all the earth. Shout, and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel” [Isaiah 12:1-6].

 

The new and final Exodus, salvation through the Messiah, will lead God’s people to sing! (The same process from salvation to singing appears in Isaiah 25-26.)

 

Mary is forever etched on the pages of the biblical witness as a fulfillment of the words of Isaiah’s prophecy. The angel Gabriel tells Mary that her son “will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end” (Luke 1:23-33). What does Mary do as these historic messianic events unfold before her? She sings! “Mary said, ‘My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior” (Luke 1:46-47). Her song continues for another eight verses, highlighting God’s saving mercy and faithfulness.

These and other biblical examples show the indispensability of singing for those who have known God’s saving work. Paul says that the one who is filled with God’s Spirit will be heard addressing others “in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with all [his or her] heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (see Ephesians 5:18-21; cf. Colossians 3:16-17). If God has brought you out of slavery to sin, and you have drawn water from the wells of salvation, then, whatever you do, sing! Don’t just listen to the music. Join in, and tell of his deeds among the peoples. If no one is around, the shower, the car, and the elevator are as good as any place to follow the Spirit’s prodding to make melody to the Lord with all your heart.

A Small Whisper of God

In keeping with the theme of this blog, I’d like to marvel a bit about God and his world. Sometimes I pause and tremble at the immensity of the created order. When I look at the stars, my mind gets boggled by the vastness of space. And then I remember that God “determines the number of the stars; he gives to all of them their names,” which is to say that he is ”abundant in power; his understanding is beyond measure” (Psalm 147:4-5). Few things terrify me and fill me with wonder more than the depths of the ocean, which humanity has yet to explore fully. (Whenever I get the chance, I download sea exploration videos from National Geographic and watch octopuses change color to blend in with their surroundings in order to avoid predators.) And, of course, God “has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand” (Isaiah 40:12). Such language labors to do as much justice as possible to the vastness and incomprehensibility of God.

One such text recently left me stunned when its implications landed on me. After Job describes the creative power of God, by which he “hangs the earth on nothing” and gathers up water in clouds without them bursting open, he says, “Behold, these are but the outskirts of his ways, and how small a whisper do we hear of him! But the thunder of his power who can understand?” (Job 26:7-8, 14). Have you ever considered the immensity of the world’s wonders and stopped to think that you are hearing but a small whisper of God and glimpsing only the outskirts of his ways? How little must we know of his infinite power and wisdom if all this is just a whisper compared to his thunder. “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!” (Romans 11:33).

Hello Blogosphere!

I have always feared the blogosphere. I don’t enter it often. Once a fortnight—maybe. (I can hear my wife laughing at me for using the word fortnight, but it just takes less energy to say than “every two weeks.”) Entering the blogosphere may lead to my ruin, but I’ve had a lot on my mind lately, and I just finished a biography of John Adams which got me to thinking what little we’d know about him if it weren’t for his letters and journal entries. Some of them are quite enlightening. And what a precious gift would the world have missed if David Brainerd had not logged his personal exploits! Perhaps the likes of some such as William Carey, who acknowledged a great debt to Brainerd’s diary, would not have done so much for the cause of Christ. I do not pretend to be any more than a chirping cricket in comparison to these singing swans, but I’d be content if a few of my morsels and marvelings helped crack open a window to a new world for some. Besides, most of what I intend to do is not to shed any new light on the universe but to pass on light from the One who brought it into existence—as well as from a few sages who have refracted that light far better than I could. If you choose to read my musings, I would welcome your (pithy) comments. If you choose not to read, I trust you will still be able to live a full, rich, and happy life.

Full of wonder,

Kent