Fear No Fear

“O sing unto the Lord a new song; sing unto the Lord, all the earth! Sing unto the Lord, bless His name; declare His salvation from day to day. Proclaim His glory among the nations, His wonders among all peoples” (Psalm 96:1-3, MEV). All of humanity makes music. We always have. Used for social interactions and to process our emotions, we make – and interact with – music at a fundamental level. Our brains process it the same way we process language. It is universal. It is important. And no one knows why we do it. Perhaps music is such a big part of us because it is such a big part of God. God LOVES music. God SINGS (Zephaniah 3:17). Like with so many things, music bypasses our thinkers. That rational must-be-explained part of our minds that is slavishly tagged to the material world. Music bypasses that. It hits deep inside us. It has a spiritual component – which is why it’s so powerful. Scottish writer Andrew Fletcher in 1703 said ‘Let me make the songs of a nation, and I care not who makes its laws.’ Music sways culture. It sways thinking. What we listen to today is what we project out a decade from now. If you see what the youth are listening to, you’re getting a glimpse of the culture they will promote as they grow up. This is why we are encouraged to worship in song. To get our of our own heads. To get out from under our problems and stressors. To get to a place where we are proclaiming the goodness of God no matter WHAT is going on. Where we are putting God in His rightful place and keeping Him there day to day. Worship through music unlocks the Joy of the Lord – which sees us through so much of what happens in life (Nehemiah 8:10). We might start singing while not wanting to, but the more we do the more our attitude will change. When we start using God’s language as our language, it is transformational. Sing to the Lord. Every day we have new things to sing about. God loves us enough to sing about us. Let’s love Him back and sing about Him, too.