According to American lyricist E.Y. Harburg, “Words make you think a thought.  Music makes you feel a feeling.  A song makes you feel a thought.”  The post-modern Bible reader today struggles not only to be a disciplined student but also a dynamic singer.  Our personal devotions, Christian homes, and local churches need more of God’s truth musically expressed!

What kind of biblical thoughts does sacred music makes us feel?

1. Wise Grace

Colossians 3:16 “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.”

2.  Stable Foundation

Psalm 119:54 “Thy statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage.”

3.  Directing Melody

Ephesians 5:19 “Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;”

4.  Celebrated Restoration

Luke 15:25 “Now his elder son was in the field: and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard musick and dancing.”

5.  Heavenly Entrance

Psalm 100:2 “Serve the Lord with gladness: come before his presence with singing.”

6.  Divine Presence

II Chronicles 5:13 “It came even to pass, as the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the Lord; and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of musick, and praised the Lord, saying, For he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever: that then the house was filled with a cloud, even the house of the Lord;”

7.  Irrefutable Testimony

Psalm 126:2 “Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing: then said they among the heathen, The Lord hath done great things for them.”

The prophet Jeremiah struggled to respond properly to the Word of God in his dark day-a lesson for our day where truth is trampled in the streets.  In chapter twenty, Jeremiah is so moved by the Word derided by others that he is at a loss to find the proper emotional response.

“For since I spake, I cried out, I cried violence and spoil; because the word of the LORD was made a reproach unto me, and a derision, daily.  Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.  For I heard the defaming of many, fear on every side. Report, say they, and we will report it. All my familiars watched for my halting, saying, Peradventure he will be enticed, and we shall prevail against him, and we shall take our revenge on him.  But the LORD is with me as a mighty terrible one: therefore my persecutors shall stumble, and they shall not prevail: they shall be greatly ashamed; for they shall not prosper: their everlasting confusion shall never be forgotten.  But, O LORD of hosts, that triest the righteous, and seest the reins and the heart, let me see thy vengeance on them: for unto thee have I opened my cause.  Sing unto the LORD, praise ye the LORD: for he hath delivered the soul of the poor from the hand of evildoers (Jeremiah 20:8-13).

The culmination of internalizing the Word of God in your heart is deep, uninhibited SONG!  Remember it is not about your dazzling tone; it is all about God’s divine truth.  Will you join me in singing more of God’s thoughts?  By the way, the inhabitants of heaven spend quite a bit of heaven’s emotional energy doing just that.

What truth of God’s Word have you acutely experienced not just in study but Spirit-enabled song?