September 14, 2015

Sing Joyfully

Devotion for the Week...

Our church has quite a few members who are good singers, particularly our two pastors who both have phenomenal voices. I do not. I always say I'm good at a lot of things, but music certainly isn't one of them. I do love to sing, but I try to do it in such a way that no one else has to hear me - except maybe the person in the seat ahead of me (and I feel sorry for them!). I am usually mindful of the general volume of the music and I try to sing quietly enough to never draw attention to myself.

We all have different spiritual gifts, enabling us to do different things (see 1 Corinthians 12:4-11 and Romans 12:6-8). When everyone uses their spiritual gifts, God's church functions the way it's supposed to (1 Corinthians 12:12-30). Singing is definitely a talent I don't have, but singing in worship is never listed as one of the spiritual gifts. In fact, singing in worship is something we are told to do, regardless of our talent (or lack thereof). Psalm 100 says, "Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs" (vv. 1,2). Notice it doesn't say, 'all of you with beautiful voices' or 'everyone who can carry a tune.' Nope. It says, "all the earth." That includes those of us who would go hungry if forced to sing for our suppers.

There is a man who attends our church who has a slight mental delay. I often hear him clapping along enthusiastically, though not always on the right beat. He sings enthusiastically too, often starting a line just a beat or two before it's supposed to start, and I smile when I hear him because he couldn't care less that he's not quite in sync with everyone else. He doesn't get embarrassed because everyone heard him singing, or because he made a mistake. He isn't concerned about the quality of his voice or about what anyone else thinks. He just sings. That's what it means to "worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs."

It's hard to really worship when I'm worried about whether or not people can hear me. I'm thinking about not embarrassing myself, and that's not worship, because thinking about myself means I'm not really focused on God. I need to be more like that man in our church, not caring what others think and just sing.

The fact is, God made my voice. He knows I can't sing well, and He doesn't care. He just wants to hear me sing. He wants to hear you too, whether or not He gifted you with a beautiful voice. He wants us to forget about how we sound, to forget about the people around us and just sing our hearts out in worship to Him.

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