Hymns of Faith

Singing praises is a big part of our worship service that we can offer to God.

I'll be honest, sometimes, I'm in church on a Sunday morning and my heart or mind is not into the song service. My mind wanders, I'm distracted, I'm thinking of anything and everything but the words that are coming out of my mouth. Sure, I sing the words, but I'm not feeling them.

Ephesians 5:19 tells us to "sing and make music from your heart to the Lord." My heart needs to be filled with the melody of praise to the Lord God. Not only that, but according to the first part of this verse, I am edifying and building up my brothers and sisters in Christ. The verse commands us to speak to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. The music of my heart can praise the Lord and encourage others during a worship service, if I allow it.

There were some men in the Old Testament, whose actual job was to sing and lead others in singing songs of praise to God. They were appointed by King David to praise the Lord in the manner of song.

"That day David first appointed Asaph and his associates to give praise to the LORD in this manner: Give praise to the LORD, proclaim his name; make known among the nations what he has done. Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all his wonderful acts. Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice. 1 Chronicles 16:7-10

There were two other men mentioned whose soul job was to give thanks and offer songs of praise to God. "With them were Heman and Jeduthun and the rest of those chosen and designated by name to give thanks to the LORD." 1 Chronicles 16:41

They were actually chosen for the profession of giving thanks to the Lord. Wow, what a job! No pressure. This seems like one of those cases in which, "You've got one job. Don't mess it up."

In turn, we also have one job in our song service to God, so we better not mess it up. The only thing we can offer to God is our faith. In our pews sits hymnals entitled, "Hymns of Faith", yet we do not always offer the same sentiment as the title. We don't get everything right and we mess up often, but we can faithfully offer him our words of praise. Ironically, in one of the hymns that we sing in that book is "Come Thou Fount," which has the line in it that says,

"Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it

Prone to leave the God I love

Here's my heart, oh, take and seal it

Seal it for Thy courts above"

Our hearts are prone to wander from God. We will mess up but God is faithful to forgive.

This singing of praise doesn't have to just be done in a congregational, public worship. It can also be done with our own private worship with God. I often find myself singing songs of praise to God in my car, at home or at work. Most often in my head. I'm sure others are thankful for that.

We need to be more like the music men mentioned earlier, Asaph, Heman (no, not the master of the universe, only God can fill that role.😉) and Jeduthan (we shall call him Jed for short). All kidding aside, these were great men who used their voices to honor and praise God, who I'm sure knew how to sing and make music from the heart to the Lord. As far as I know they did their job right. I too, want to sing from the heart and offer proper worship, glory and honor that is due to the name of the Lord.

I'll leave you these words to ponder, that David said to these men as he appointed them to give praise to the Lord "Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; bring an offering and come before him. Worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness." 1 Chronicles 16:29