WEEK 3: We Sing Because We’re Free
I’m sorry this post is three days late. Last week, I had a number of migraines, which set back several of my projects. Thanks for your patience.
This one sentence summarizes chapter three: “God’s love for us inspires our response of love for Him and calls forth songs of joy from our lips.” In other words, the Gettys convincingly argue that believers in Jesus Christ are so moved by the grace of God in the gospel that they are compelled to sing. We never tire to sing of God’s salvation, which is a pattern found in the Scriptures.
Songs of God’s Salvation
- The First Song – The song of Moses in Exodus 15 is the first stated song in Scripture. “Mirrored in this story is the gospel story of our rescue through Christ.”
- The Songs of Battle – Songs declaring glory to God for military victories include Deborah’s song (Judges 5) and the song of Jehoshaphat (2 Chron. 20). “We sing because it is part of our armor for battle in this life and the means of celebrating our victories–ad in Christ, we always have the victory.”
- Songs of David – “The Psalms are songs that call us to sing….Throughout the main songbook of the Bible, the Psalms, there is a regular pattern of revelation and response.”
- Songs of the Prophets – “The prophets sang because of the salvation that they had seen, but more than that because of the salvation that they had foreseen.”
- The Song that Sustains the Prisoners – “Salvation enables joy and compels singing even when circumstances are set dead against us. This is the wonder of gospel singing–since nothing can separate us from the love of god in Jesus Christ (Rom. 8:38-39).
Our Eternal Song
The song of salvation will be the song we sing for all eternity: “We will spend our eternity singing, for the gospel compels us to sing….We don’t sing because we have to. We sing because we love to.”
What made an impression on you in last week’s reading? Leave a comment blow.
*If you would like to join in with the reading, get yourself a copy of SING! How Worship Transforms Your Life, Family, and Church.
For the first fifteen or so years I was like that, singing songs and making up songs. And then I lost it. It was gradual. There was an expectation that God was doing things in the church and in our lives and then it was gone. I still have a song in my heart but not all the time. I am still self feeding and trying to be a blessing, have I lost something or am I expecting too much.
Thanks, Steve. I appreciate your openness and desire for the song to return. For me, there are different seasons. Sometimes, the song is not there as much as other times, but I think that deep down it’s there. Perhaps make that a prayer focus for you. Also, try to remember a handful of those songs that impacted you so much in the early days of your Christian life (remember your first love). Many times that reminds you of how much the Lord has done and is a tool to renewal.
Oh my goodness! I am LOVING this book! As you all probably know I LOVE singing! Worship has always been a HUGE part of my life since the time I got saved as a child during the time of my parents going through a divorce. I will say it has had its ups and downs as everyone has those. Anyway, wanted to share: As the oldest child I found that being at church with His people and worship songs brought me so much comfort. It was hard being caught in the middle. Hearing the arguments etc. I’ll never forget our Thursday night worship at the church I was attending where we would sing and have communion when the words to a song started to click. The songs were Amazing Love and Once Again. I understood what Jesus did for me the first time. The cross, His love for me. He’s my friend. The words of the song that stood out the most were : “Thank you for the cross, Thank you for the cross. Thank you for the cross, my friend.” He was going to be the one to be there for me during the difficult times. When I’d feel caught in the middle etc. My parents’ divorce was not the only difficult time I encountered. I am so glad that I had this foundation because my Mom’s second marriage took some of the beauty of worship away. We attended catholic church for a while but after a while my stepdad at the time decided we’d no longer be going to church at all. My sisters and I could not see my Dad anymore. I attended a Baptist church’s youth group but eventually was told I could no longer go there either. I would get grounded from church. I was mentally abused. I would get told I could not listen to Christian music. Now, I like country music but that was all I was allowed to listen to after a while. They didn’t want me to sing. He was an alcoholic. It was bad. Needless to say during that time it was very hard to keep singing and have the faith. All I could do is pray and sometimes I felt unheard. To make a long story short: Luckily Praise God my grandparents got custody of me and I was able to get out of that situation. Being separated from my siblings was really hard but my grandparents getting custody allowed me to once again sing and get my high school education along with be involved in church and have a more mentally and spiritually stable home. Singing became a love again. I was in acapella choir, madrigals sang on our youth group’s worship team and would sing special music occasionally at my great grandparents’ church. Growth happened. Fast forward to college and that was an up and down cycle as well. I went to a Christian school but insecurities would creep in and I would not perform as well as I would have liked in an audition etc. It took me a while before I was able to make Concert Choir – the one I had wanted to be in from the beginning. I would get so nervous. My vocal coach would be like what happened Emily? He knew I could do it. Finally, he requested that the choir director come in and listen to my voice lesson. Sure enough he was shocked and couldn’t believe what he heard. I was capable. I did end up making choir. It’s funny and sad how you can feel so discouraged and insecurities set in especially when it’s something you love. That still happens at times. In college I loved our worship nights and chapels. Sometimes groups of us would just gather and sing in our prayer chapel whatever the Lord put on our heart. We’d read scripture, we’d pray we’d let the Lord lead. Sometimes I’d find myself never wanting to leave. Even had an all nighter in there once. Point being I always have loved worship and find myself not wanting it to end.
As far as having a song like steve mentioned. I don’t know that I have just one song. I can be found singing whatever worship song the Lord puts on my heart. We love singing and listening to worship music in our house. Zoey and Barry have caught on and love it too. I love how it tends to be just what I need at the time too. Not always every day. It comes in seasons sometimes as you mentioned. Some days I have to tune out the enemies lies/ fight off anxiety by choosing to turn on worship music. The words don’t always sink in right away then but they eventually bring comfort. Sorry for the long post! I just wanted to share what an impact worship has had on my life. Music has gotten me through some really tough times. I am SO thankful for the love of worship He has given me and how He uses songs to bring comfort. I love being a part of our worship team and helping lead our congregation into worship. It’s such a joy! See even just saying that brought a song to mind. “The joy of the Lord is my Strength!” 🙂
Some of my favorite quotes from this was: “We sing because it is part of our armor for battle in this life and the means of celebrating our victories–and in Christ we always have the victory.”
“Salvation enables joy and compels singing even when circumstances are set dead against us. This is the wonder of the gospel singing–since nothing can separate us from the love of God in Jesus Christ (Rom 8:38-39) , nothing need or can or should stop us singing.”
In Christ, we always have the victory. Amen!