Why do we sing? Singing seems to be a fundamental human response to different circumstances, something that is ‘wired into’ us by God. It doesn’t matter whether we are a nightingale or a crow; we tend to enjoy singing aloud, even if it’s only in the shower for our own benefit!
God is a God who gives gifts to us, and music is one of His greatest gifts. Berthold Auerbach said, ‘Music washes from the soul the dust of everyday life’, and certainly music and singing are one of the ways that truth and emotion are best combined. (Sadly, lies and emotion can also be combined in this way, which is why we have to be pretty ruthless in what we listen to; so much of popular music is filled with lyrics which do not honour God and which can easily distract and even pervert our thinking on a huge variety of subjects, especially love.)
Biblical reasons why we should sing and make music include:
- Obedience (God commands us to sing (Ps 47:6-7; Ps 81:1-2; Ps 150), and therefore singing reflects our desire to obey God in every area of our lives.)
- Digging Deep in the Word (When we sing truths from the Bible, we allow God’s word to dwell in us (Col 3:16) and build Biblical responses into our lives.)
- Building up other people (singing is infectious; it helps other people to see God’s character in new ways and can even be used by God to reach unbelievers (Ps 105:1-2). The corporate nature of singing is powerful and reflects the solid truth that we are called to live for God as a community, a family, a body, not just as individuals.)
- It is a form of spiritual warfare (see Ps 149:6-9, 2 Chron 20:20-23, Joshua 6:1-27). Lifting up God’s name in praise through music and singing has real power in the spiritual realms which breaks strongholds and brings victory. When we sing in church, we are not simply passing time, entertaining ourselves or enjoying ourselves through music; we are engaging in spiritual warfare by proclaiming who God is and using the sword of the Spirit so that ‘the rulers, the authorities, the powers of this dark world and the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms’ (Eph 6:12) may be defeated.
- Singing builds us up so that we can face the trials of life with faith. Paul and Silas are unjustly imprisoned for the sake of the Gospel, and what do they do while they’re in prison? They sing! (Acts 16:25) Singing needs to be not just for the happy times when it’s easy to sing, but, like every area of our lives, something we do by faith. We can’t please God without faith (Heb 11:6); there is great power in singing in the hard times as well as the good times (‘Blessed Be Your Name’/ ‘I’m Still Yours’). The lament in Ps 137 that the Israelites felt they could not sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land shows us that singing in troubled times is not easy, but just because something is difficult is no reason to give up. As we engage our wills to sing, not relying merely on emotion but exercising faith, we find that God honours tear-stained songs. (‘When The Tears Fall’, Tim Hughes)
- We sing because it’s God’s pathway to joy. Sometimes singing gives birth to joy and sometimes joy gives birth to singing, but persistently in Scripture, joy and singing are bound together. You can’t study one of those two biblical themes without encountering the other. (see here.)
- We sing to glorify God. Singing brings our heart, soul, mind, and strength together to focus entirely and completely on God. In an age of distraction, singing grabs the attention of all our senses and focuses us on God, uniting truth, emotions and will in ways that help us to live a congruent life.