I’m a firm believer in the power of song. Somehow, when we sing, our spirits are lifted and we are encouraged. When we sing truth, we are set free.
People believe you have to be happy to sing. In truth, singing brings happiness. It leads to joy. We don’t always sing because we are happy; we sing our way out of trouble, as Martin Smith profoundly puts it in his song, ‘Trouble.’ We sing praise to God because He is always worthy of our praise, no matter how we feel. He is always worth it!
Eugene Peterson reminds us that the scriptural command to lift up your hands to the Lord is a simple motor action that has nothing to do with feelings and everything to do with will, with choice. So it is with singing. Some people only sing, only lift their hands, when they are in a crowd or when they ‘feel like it.’ Martin Smith’s song reminds us if we sing, we will eventually find freedom: ‘I‘m gonna sing till I am free.’ We don’t just sing when we see God work. We sing in faith that He will work: ‘Our God will find us here in the rubble/ O Rock of ages, You will save us once again.’
Last night in our prayer meeting, we were reminded of the song ‘The hills are alive with the sound of music’ (from the musical ‘Sound of Music‘). It is our prayer that the Dearne Valley will resound with songs of praise to God. We have a glorious heritage of choirs locally: Thurnscoe Harmonic Male Voice Choir and now the exciting work of Barnsley Youth Choir, including BYC East Children’s Choir which meets weekly in Goldthorpe, training our 7-12 year olds to sing. But more than these wonderful choirs, our prayer is for God’s people to sing their way out of trouble because ‘salvation is our song.‘ How can we keep from singing when our God is so good?
