Giving Thanks to Him with Song

Music has always been so important to me. I remember being in 3rd grade, driving in the car with my mom, and learning the harmony part to This Land is Your Land. She always sang with me in the car, and it is with her, I practiced training my ear to hear harmony.

As I grew, I couldn’t get enough music. I loved my cassette tapes—tapes of David Meece, 2nd Chapter of Acts, DeGarmo & Key, and of course Amy Grant. And I would always look forward to buying Sandi Patty’s newest tape the day it was released and I’d sing every song over and over at the top of my lungs, never tiring of her endless key changes and soaring notes. And I memorized every single song.

It was in the context of singing that I learned to worship. Praise and song go hand in hand, and my relationship with God deepened as I learned to authentically worship. I remember Tuesday mornings before 7th and 8th grade, meeting for early morning Bible Study. I remember eating donuts and singing choruses: As the Deer, Psalm 5, and O Lord You’re Beautiful. I loved our Sunday night high-school get-togethers after church, eating and talking and then worshipping on a living room floor, with the guitars strumming loud.

There’s something about music, something that moves our hearts and stirs our emotions. It’s as if music evokes our emotional memory. It emotionally transports us back in time—back to those first moments when you experienced its power. Moments like choosing to follow Jesus, times around the fire at camp, retreats in the mountains, or worship moments at church.

And because it transports us, music connects us to God. Our emotions engage as we offer Him praise and thanks for all He is, and all He has done for us.

Sometimes there’s just no other way to adequately express our thanks but to just sing—to make our own joyful noise to Him.

Because it’s not about whether we can sing well.

It’s about the surrendering of our very selves, to bring Him the honor He is due.

It’s about exalting Him above any other name and magnifying Him beyond any other thing.

It’s about our heart’s postures bowing low and our praise resounding in an abandoned surrender, to worship our Lord and King.

And it’s in worship we give thanks to Him with our song.

Psalm 28:6-7

Blessed be the Lord!

For he has heard the voice of my pleas for mercy.

The Lord is my strength and my shield;

in him my heart trusts, and I am helped;

my heart exults,

and with my song I give thanks to him.

 

May your week be filled with moments of beautiful music, so you can worship Him, and offer Him your song.

What is your favorite worship song?

How has music helped you connect with God?

Continuing on, in the counting of One Thousand Gifts {#1276-1290} with Ann and this community, and the Joy Dare of 2012 with February’s  printable…

#1276 Audio Bible listening on my way to work

#1277 Sunshine warmth in February

#1278 Frixion erasable pens
Pilot FriXion Ball Pen, Erasable Gel Ink, Fine Point, Assorted Colors 6 pack: Black, Blue, Red, Pink, Orange, Purple (FX7C6001)

#1279 Calm quiet time with David Nevue’s music

#1280 Numbers and Psalms

#1281 Confirmation of being a vessel

#1282 Candles burning

#1283 The smell of freshly washed hair

#1284 A family night of pancakes, eggs, & bacon

#1285 Online sisters and friends

#1286 A mother-in-laws’ encouragement

#1287 Saturday plant shopping

#1288 Friday date night–Kabuki, Pinkberry, & “The Vow”

#1289 Running not alone, but with children and their bikes

#1290 The freedom to worship in song

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