| Psalm 98:1 – “O sing to the Lord a new song, for He has done wonderful things.” |
My wife was out for the evening. Pokeno night with the girls. I call it “Pokemon”. Anyway, I texted our son Jackson that it was guys night at home. He came home and I started fixing grilled cheese sandwiches. (When our boys were young and it was dad’s night to fix dinner, I would ask the boys if they wanted grill cheese or boy cheese.)
He wanted tomato soup with them, so he ran to the Dollar General and got some. I asked him to get tortilla chips as well to go with our salsa. We had a nice dinner. Don’t tell Mom, but I doubled the cheese on each sandwich. Almost used up her supply.
We started the cleanup afterwards. My habit when I clean the kitchen is to put on some music to work by. Tonight, I did not. I wanted to create a good environment for he and I to talk while we cleaned. We did. The music might have interfered with our conversation, hearing each other.
I worship with people in a rather peculiar way. We sing without a band or any instruments beyond our voices. We simply sing. I get asked a lot “Why?” I play the guitar for my personal enjoyment, but not in worship with others. Once I was invited to a friend’s church to hear a gospel quartet. There was a dinner beforehand. I sat next to their minister of music. They had a worship band. He asked me about our acapella worship. I confirmed that yes, we sang with no instrumental accompaniment. His comment to me? “We can’t get our people to sing.”
I am not here to tell you to rid your worship band. What I am saying? If you want to encourage singing (and I realize some just won’t sing no matter what you do), try just singing. It is like riding a bicycle. If you want to go somewhere, you have to pedal. God is asking us to sing and make melody in our hearts. He wants to hear us sing. All of us. Even those who don’t sound so pretty. “Make a joyful NOISE unto the Lord.” “. . .Singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.” We can all make a noise. Two of the psalms begin this way: “Sing to the Lord a new song.”
Father in heaven, help me to sing songs to You, in Jesus’ name, Amen!
- Jeff Beall
