Faithful on Fridays Blog

Prior to His betrayal and arrest Jesus celebrated one last supper with His friends. He knew what was coming that night; He knew scripture would be fulfilled with His sacrificial death. However, do you remember how He approached those events?

And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. Matthew 26:30

Jesus sang a song and eventually moved into prayer (Mark 14:26). Those two expressions to God were not uncommon to any Hebrew; that’s how they approached God: praise and petition. Praising Him for who He is and what He’s done all the while believing He’ll do it again.

In the depths of despair David cried out to God four times (Ps. 13): How long, O Lord? Yet he ended his time of prayer with these words,

“I will sing to the Lord, because he has dealt bountifully with me. Psalms 13:6

David made himself remember what God had previously accomplished on his behalf and he willed himself to shir ha shir: sing a song. In Psalm 27, when his enemies were surrounding him he sang again.

“And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me, and I will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy; I will sing and make melody to the Lord.” Psalms 27:6

David knew that warfare included praise, a strategy Satan hates, and it’s available to us as well. When I’m feeling down, irritable, or afraid I put on my playlist of Happy Songs, specific praise songs that make me smile, and I take a walk and let the Holy Spirit renew my thinking. I sing, sometimes very loud as I’m walking, making those declarations of who God is and what He’s already done for me. I return with a fresh sense of hope and faith.

… be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart. Ephesians 5:18b-19

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

The Greek word for song is familiar to us, ode, however, Paul wasn’t referring to a serious lament but a spontaneous, impromptu expression of praise sung to the Lord, not just about Him. Think about that… How much of our praise and worship is sung to God in an intimate way? How often do we look up when we sing songs to Him and declare them to Him. We’d better get used to that because heaven will be full of shir ha shirim, singing songs.

And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, “Great and amazing are your deeds, O Lord God the Almighty! Just and true are your ways, O King of the nations!” Revelation 15:3