Sing To The Lord

For those of you who have been reading my blog, I have posted way to much silly stuff on here and not nearly enough "good" stuff! So, here's what's been on my mind lately.....

I have been struck lately with how many times the Bible commands us to "sing." About a year ago, Iwas listening to a tribute to my favorite artist, Rich Mullins, and he made the comment that "the command to sing is the most repeated command in Scripture." Since then, whenver I am reading my Bible, I am really aware of this because at the time, I doubted the veracity of Mullins' statement. Well, what do you know - he was right!

Reading through the Psalms is where this is most evident. In most circumstances, the writer is singing out of a joyful heart, but there are also times when he sings even though his world is crashing in on him. Psalm 13 is a rather short psalm compared to some, but in it, David starts by showing that he is in anguish. His life is being threatened. He's in less than ideal circumstances. Things aren't good. But, even in the midst of all this, he says in the last verse, "I will sing to the Lord because He has dealt bountifully with me."

One incredibly striking example is in Acts 16 - the story of Paul and Silas in prison. Imagine it: These two men have just freed a young girl from an evil spirit. Instead of rejoicing for her, her masters see that her "money-making abilities" are gone, and, enraged at that, drag Paul and Silas to the authorities who strip and beat them. They are then thrown into prison where, despite being bloodied and bruised, the jailer locks them in the stocks. After he leaves, the two prisoners do the most extraordinary thing ...they start singing! And, they weren't just humming quietly to themselves. They were locked "in the inner prison," and they were singing loud enough that "the other prisoners were listening to them." What a testimony of faith! Here they are, they've been tortured and are locked in jail, and they're singing at the top of their lungs. Incredible!

I have found it to to be true in my own life that if I can sing, my attitude will change. Whatever is going on - if I'm sad, angry, afraid, discouraged, or even just tired, singing to the Lord really helps me get a new perspective. The Lord "inhabits the praises of His people." (Ps. 22:3) One of my favorites to sing is All For Jesus by Robin Mark. I love the part where it says, "All of my ambitions, hopes, and plans; I surrender these into Your hands." Our ambitions can range from merely wanting to go riding with some friends to big things like college, life goals, etc. If we can surrender ALL of our ambitions (big and small) to God, He will take care of them.

Oh - and just because I was curious, I counted and found out that "sing" appears 121 times in the Bible, and goes up to 209 in the New English version. It is also the most recorded command!.....just kidding, I googled it and found out. No way I could count that :)

So...how many times did I use the word "sing" in this post? (That includes sang, singing, sung, etc.)

I will hopefully be putting videos of all of us at our piano recital last weekend on here sometime soon.

Lisa