Have you ever stood in Sunday worship service singing the words to the hymn but thinking, "Does it really need to be this warm in here?", or "Boyee, my tie matches my wife's dress perfectly?", or "Do I really sound that bad/good to those around me?"? I am guilty! Maybe you haven't actually asked those questions, but surely I'm not the only one that is guilty of a wandering mind during singing songs of worship and adoration to the most high God.
We are sinful creatures that can too easily become hardened and calloused in out hearts. If we do not soberly prepare for the honor of worship, we can become too familiar and lose the awe. As in all our spiritual duties, our singing can become a clanging gong when the heart is not in it. Perhaps we have forgotten that God can raise up the rocks to cry out in His name. Do we really imagine that He takes pleasure in vain repetitions?
By His grace, we can revive a zeal in our singing! He has given us all that we need to sing as the London Baptist Confession describes in Chapter 22.6: "singing with grace in our hearts to the Lord".
Wilhelmus A’Brakel, a Dutch Reformed pastor from the 17th century, gives us a few pointers in this section from
The Christian's Reasonable Service, Vol 4: that can be used to aid us as we seek to sing with fervency:
First, you must know
that singing is not a neutral matter in which you may or may not engage.
Rather, it is God’s command. As we have shown you before, God requires
this from you and desires to be served by you in this manner. Consider
these and similar quotes and impress them upon your heart as being
mandatory. Begin to engage in this duty with an obedient heart; break
open your mouth and your closed heart will open as well.
Secondly, God has
created this ability in the very nature of man. This is to be observed
in children of three or four years old. Take note of how they walk
around the house while singing at the same time. Observe how even in
nature the birds in their own way already praise their Creator early in
the morning by way of singing. If you go outside in the morning, or if
you have birds in your home, you will hear it. Will the birds and small
children rebuke you, and would you, who have the greatest reason in the
world to sing joyously, be dumb and silent?
Thirdly, it is the
work of angels, for they glorify the Lord in song (cf. Job 38:7; Luke
2:13-14; Rev. 5:11-12), and it is the work of the church upon earth and
in heaven: “And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take
the book, and to open the seals thereof: for Thou wast slain, and hast
redeemed us to God by Thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and
people, and nation” (Rev. 5:9); “And they sung as it were a new song
before the throne…and no man could learn that song but the hundred and
forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth” (Rev.
14:3); “And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song
of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are Thy works, Lord God
Almighty” (Rev. 15:3). If you have no desire to sing, then what will you
do in church and in heaven? Furthermore, if you are desirous to magnify
the Lord with an eternal hallelujah, you should presently begin upon
earth.
Fourthly, God is
particularly pleased when His children praise Him in song. There where
the Lord is sweetly praised in song, there He will come with His
blessings. “But Thou art holy, O Thou that inhabitest the praises of
Israel” (Ps. 22:3). It is noteworthy to consider what transpired at the
dedication of the temple. “It came even to pass, as the trumpeters and
singers were as one…that then the house was filled with a cloud…so that
the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud: for the
glory of the LORD had filled the house of God” (2 Chr. 5:13-14). When
Jehoshaphat, together with his army, lifted up their voices in joyous
exclamation and song (2 Chr. 20:22), the Lord defeated their enemies.
When Paul and Silas sang praises unto God in the middle of the night,
the doors of the prison were opened and the bands of all the prisoners
were loosened (Acts 16:25-26). Therefore, if you are desirous to please
the Lord, and delight in having the Lord visit your soul and desire to
experience His help, then accustom yourself to singing.
Fifthly, singing will
move a heart which frequently remains unmoved during prayer. It can be
that while singing the tears will drip upon the book. Have you not
frequently experienced this? Have not you been stirred up by hearing the
singing of others? Others will therefore also be stirred up by your
singing. The Papists in France knew this, and therefore they strictly
forbade the singing of psalms and meted out cruel punishment for
this—even prior to massacring the church. Therefore, no longer be
silent, but lift up your voices—in spite of the devil and all the
enemies of God—to the honor and glory of your God, as this has done you
too much good already (and still does) than that you would refrain from
thanking the Lord with songs of praise. You must furthermore do so in
order that you might stir up others to serve the Lord with gladness. It
will then become manifest to all natural men that godliness is a joyous
rather than a grievous life, and they will become desirous for this as
well. And if you sing, sing with understanding, with a fervent desire,
conscious of the presence of the Lord (and thus reverently), with a
modest demeanor, and with both inner and external attentiveness, so that
it may all be becoming before the Lord and to the edification of others
who surround us.”
