Do YOU sing to the Lord?

March 13, 2020March 13, 2020 | lindamowles

Singing. We hear a lot of singing in our world. I admit that when I was young, songs had decipherable words with tunes you could hum to even if you didn’t remember the words. Today, there are still songs like that but there are other songs with screaming and sounds that bear little resemblance to the tunes of my youth.

Singing, whether it is soothing or drum-heavy, whether it is melodic or screaming, is an important part of life.

Indeed, scripture talks of singing often. Consider these scripture references:

Singing was part of the worship of God in the house of God.

They were all under the direction of their father in the music in the house of the LORD with cymbals, harps, and lyres for the service of the house of God. Asaph, Jeduthun, and Heman were under the order of the king. The number of them along with their brothers, who were trained in singing to the LORD, all who were skillful, was 288.

1 Chronicles 15:6-7

When Ezra and Nehemiah reconstructed the demolished wall around Jerusalem, singing was part of the celebration upon its completion.

And at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem they sought the Levites in all their places, to bring them to Jerusalem to celebrate the dedication with gladness, with thanksgivings and with singing, with cymbals, harps, and lyres.

Nehemiah 12:27

David admonishes us to sing before God!

Serve the LORD with gladness! Come into his presence with singing!

Psalm 100:2

Paul told the Colossian Christians that they should sing and be thankful to God.

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

Colossians 3:16

So we know that people are to praise God and sing of His glory. But the scripture also makes note that nature, itself, will praise God and sing. Consider these scriptures:

The flowers appear on the earth, the time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land.

Song of Solomon 2:12

The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad; the desert shall rejoice and blossom like the crocus; it shall blossom abundantly and rejoice with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, the majesty of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of the LORD, the majesty of our God.

Isaiah 35:1-2

For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.

Isaiah 55:12

We hear the leaves on the trees as the wind blows through them, we see the trees wave their branches. We hear the birds call and sing their songs, praising God as they look over their domain from the trees. We hear the ocean waves as they crash against the shore and then turn to hear the waves sliding along the sand at the beach. We hear these things, but I suspect that God’s creation sings to Him in ways that we can only imagine.

Oh come, let us sing to the LORD; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!

Psalm 95:1-2

Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth; break forth into joyous song and sing praises!

Psalm 98:4

A Psalm for giving thanks. Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth!

Psalm 100:1

God’s creation is constantly praising Him. What a shame that so many of His people feel that they cannot sing to Him. While some of the singers in the Old Testament were trained to sing, scripture also tells us that we are to make a “joyful noise” to God.

Sing to the Lord – sing with gusto – sing out loud. You will feel better for doing so and you will be praising the Lord, making His heart glad.

Celtic Thunder Heritage sang a song entitled “A Place in the Choir” in concert several years ago. This song in concert is shown at this YouTube link.

The music and singing is wonderful. The following link provides pictures of the various animals referenced and it might make the song more fun to hear, especially for the children and the young at heart!

Keep this quote from Henry Van Dyke in mind: “Use the talent that you possess, for the woods would be silent if no birds sang but the best!”

Father, I praise You for giving me the ability to sing to You and to give praise and thanks to You for Your marvelous works to the children of men. May I praise and glorify You throughout my days.

DAILY PRAISE AND THANKSGIVING

January 27, 2020 | lindamowles

The Holy Spirit has been impressing upon me the privilege of praising the Lord and giving thanks to the Father, not just when something good (in our way of thinking) happens, but regularly, multiple times per day. It has been said that gratitude should be our modus operandi.

When we went to the western United States, we found ourselves praising God multiple times per day as we saw His beautiful creation spread out before us.

USED Half dome (C) — Yosemite National Park

The natural beauty of Yosemite National Park prompted us to praise Him and give thanks to Him for the glory of His creation. Half-Dome standing like a sentry over the mountains and valleys reminded us of the Lord’s watchfulness over His people, and of His omnipotence. The sure and certain knowledge that He is in control and His purposes will not be thwarted by anything that man can conjure up!

Landscape Rainbow, Seward Highway, Alaska

The Landscape Rainbow that became visible as we were driving to Seward, Alaska reminded us of God’s unfailing promises. We saw this rainbow the day after I had surgery to repair my broken ankle, a sure-fire way to cut vacation travel short! But the Lord was with us even in those difficult days thousands of miles from home, when He sent numerous people to minister to us, helping us get through the trial of no place to stay, of surgery, etc. His people surrounded us, even in the hospital corridor. The rainbow was a visual reminder that He had not lost track of us, and He would not do so, ever! And, in response, we uttered a prayer of praise and thanksgiving to Him for sending this beautiful reminder of His presence.

Praise and thanksgiving should be ever present in the life of a Christian, even when things are not what we expected, when they are difficult and painful, when they are overwhelming and frustrating. Praise and thanksgiving are appropriate at all these times because God is teaching us to be more like His Son, our Lord and Savior.

Paul said:

Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving.

Ephesians 5:4

The writer of Hebrews said this about praise to God:

Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name.

Hebrews 13:15

This is not just a New Testament command – it is referenced multiple times in the Old Testament as well.

David referenced praise and thanksgiving numerous times in his writings, and here is one of them:

Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name!

Psalm 100:4

In fact, the Israelites were told to practice daily praise and thanksgiving. With regard to the obligations of the priests, we read in 1 Chronicles 23:30:

“And they were to stand every morning, thanking and praising the LORD, and likewise at evening,”

The command is to begin and end the day with praise and thanks to the Lord God. Notice, God didn’t say that this was required on those days that were easy, or when they were encamped and not fighting anyone, or that they were exempted from this requirement when it was too hot! Every morning and every evening — come rain or shine, home hard times or easy ones, come plague or famine, come ease or comfort. Praise and thanksgiving were to be their standard daily.

Do we do this?

Every day or ever?

Even on those days that are so frustrating and maddening that we want to scream?

Even when the children are fighting and we can’t hear ourselves think?

Even when our spouse has done something that infuriates us?

Praise and thanksgiving when illness hits or an unexpected death occurs?

Yes, we should! Daily praise and thanksgiving. At times it is difficult but calling on the Name of the Lord and giving Him praise and thanksgiving for His presence and comfort, for His guidance and leading, always is music to our Lord’s ears. It is glorifying to God the Father and it is evidence that the Holy Spirit is at work in our lives. I’m not saying that we will understand the reason behind what happens to us, that is God’s area of expertise! I am saying that the Christian’s response to these things should be humble acknowledgement that we are hurt and that we don’t understand why this bad thing occurred; but, we have confidence in God and His wisdom and we praise His name and give thanksgiving to Him for his faithfulness and His abiding presence with us that gives comfort and peace even in difficult circumstances.

What a difference daily, moment by moment, praise and thanksgiving would make in our lives! Glorifying God, giving Him praise and thanksgiving, even at your deepest hour will bring peace and comfort, even when nothing is going right and everything is going wrong.

Father, forgive us for failing to give You praise and thanksgiving on a daily, moment-by-moment basis. Enable us to see even difficult days of suffering and loss as times to give You praise as You execute Your purposes for us and for the world. Give us strength and wisdom as we live our lives and lead us to give You the praise and thanksgiving that You rightfully deserve, every moment of every day.

ATTRIBUTES OF GOD – GOODNESS

January 19, 2018January 12, 2018 | lindamowles

Another one of God’s intrinsic attributes is His goodness. We read about it in the opening verses of the Bible where we read of creation done by God simply at the power of His words.

“And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light. And God saw that the light was good.”

Genesis 1:3-4.

Waimea Canyon Kauai mountains — Waimea Canyon, Kauai, Hawaii

This continued throughout creation and then, in verses 26, 31 we read:

“Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. … And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.”

When the Triune God was done with the creative work on the sixth day, He looked at His completed creation and said not only that each of the component parts were good, He declared that “it was VERY GOOD” and that statement included mankind, created in His image, for fellowship and relationship with Him. God is good, and we were created in His image.

A short look at the newspaper tells us that we are not good, however. Sin entered the world and contaminated that which God had created. But sin did not change the character or nature of God. He is still Good.

“For the LORD is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.”

Psalm 100:5

God is not good because it is attractive for Him to be so, and He does not strive after following some standard for goodness that is outside of Himself. God IS good. J.I. Packer says that God’s sovereign redemptive love is just one facet of God’s goodness. Goodness underlies virtually all that He does. [J. I. Packer, Concise Theology, p. 46]

He is the Source of all goodness. In other words, goodness is not an abstract concept – it is personal – it is WHO — it is God. The only reason we know anything at all about goodness is because God, who created us in His image, IS good.

The Jews knew that to call yourself good was to take an attribute of God and apply it to yourself, something that was clearly within the definition of blasphemy, as is evidenced by Jesus’ response to the man in Mark 10:18 where He says:

“Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.”

Goodness is one of the fruit of the Spirit that Paul identifies in Galatians.

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness…”

Galatians 5:22

Due to sin, we have no inherent goodness within ourselves. But, the believer has the fruit of goodness due to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is part of the Triune God-head and thus the Spirit has the same nature as the Father and the Son. Since goodness is intrinsic to the Father’s nature, it is also part of the Holy Spirit’s nature, so that it is a fruit that will grow within the believer as we give more and more of ourselves to the Lord.

Dr. R. C. Sproul notes, in the Developing Christian Character, CD Teaching Series from Ligonier Ministries, that when God’s goodness is evidenced in our lives as a fruit of the Spirit, there is a new ability to appreciate excellence and beauty because it is evidence of the beauty, order and exquisite detail of God’s nature and character.

We have already spoken of God’s joy in His beautiful creation. A further example of God delighting in beauty can be found in Exodus 28:2 where God tells the people how to make Aaron’s garments for use in worship:

“And you shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother, for glory and for beauty”.

Even though they were in the wilderness, God did not want the priest to be clothed with normal garments. Exodus 28 details what was to be made, including what materials were to be used. A very partial listing includes: blue, purple, and scarlet yarns, and fine twined linen; two large onyx stones engraved and set in gold filigree; chains of pure gold; twelve gems for the breastplate – sardius, topaz, cabruncle, emerald, sapphire, diamond, jacinth, agate, amethyst, beryl, onyx and jasper – each one being put in gold filigree settings. And there is much more! Clearly, Aaron’s garments reflected God’s glory and beauty!

Another example God’s goodness is appreciation for music. Music was an integral part of worship in the Old Testament. 1 Chronicles 15:28, 2 Chronicles 7:6. David talks of making music and singing to the Lord in many of the Psalms. Psalm 101:1, Psalm 92:1.

More recently, Johan Sebastian Bach [1685-1750] composed his music to give glory to God. Bach wanted his music to point to the existence of God when, during the “Enlightenment”, people were arguing that man was the be all and end all and that God was unnecessary. Bach himself said:

“Music’s only purpose should be the glory of God and the recreation of the human spirit.”

Listen to “Jesu Joy of Man’s Desiring” as composed by Johan S. Bach and performed by the Choir of Sommerville College, Oxford.

God’s goodness is just one of the intrinsic aspects of His nature, it is one of God’s attributes. Goodness is truly the foundation for all that He has done for us. We should praise Him continually for the mercy, grace, and salvation that has been extended to us through Christ our Lord, all because of His goodness.