Soul Singing
I grew up listening to music. There has been music in my family for as long as I can remember. My grandmother (Essie Hicks) used to entertain the fellow residents of the nursing home where she spent the last few years of her life. She would play and sing “Wildwood Flower”, “Wabash Cannonball”, “Red Wing” – to name a few. She was heavily influenced by Appalachian mountain music. I was probably in my mid-twenties when I started enjoying a different style of music. They old hymns were fine – there were a few weird ones – but songs started being written simply using Psalms and other scripture. I learned to play many of these. I sort of swerved into leading worship at a new contemporary service that used a lot of these “Psalm songs” to point our hearts toward the Lord. I can recall many times; my soul being moved deeply by these simple songs being sung to the Lord. Music is a medium that communicates in a way that words alone can touch. The music with the words create a powerful and emotional message that moves both the singer and the ones hearing it. I really want the music I sing before the Lord to move my heart, but I want it to move God’s heart as well. Check this out….
1 Come, let us sing to the Lord!
Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation.
2 Let us come to him with thanksgiving.
Let us sing psalms of praise to him.
3 For the Lord is a great God,
a great King above all gods.
4 He holds in his hands the depths of the earth
and the mightiest mountains.
5 The sea belongs to him, for he made it.
His hands formed the dry land, too.
6 Come, let us worship and bow down.
Let us kneel before the Lord our maker,
7 for he is our God.
We are the people he watches over,
the flock under his care.(Psalm 95:1-7 NLT)
Even when my voice goes away, the Lord is looking for my heart worship. He’s not super impressed with musical talent or vocal talent – He’s looking to see if my heart and my voice/music are together in worship. My work today is worship. My interaction with others can bring honor to the King. My responses should reflect my time spent with Him this morning. I’m listening to What A Beautiful Nameby Hillsong. I want my soul to sing to the Lord, even when there is no music or words to be used.
Pressing On!
Dwayne