Sing to the LORD!
The most interesting thing has been my experience recently. When I’m praying about what to write or post, another Subscriber, most often Sergio DeSoto, but others as well, will post about the same topic! I was recently thinking about a friend of mine who once said to me, “You are amazing.” I responded, “Grace is amazing”. At another time she said, “You are awesome.” I responded, “God is awesome.” She is a Seventh Day Adventist, knows all the Bible stories, taught the youth and young adults for twenty plus years, After I attended her class for a while, she said, “I know the stories, but I didn’t really understand them.” Knowing what the Bible says is not the same as understanding what it means or how we should walk it out. And as a result, depending on the ‘gatekeepers’ as Sergio has identified in recent posts, has re- and misdirected well-meaning, sincere believes in both Worship and Bible study.
The latest article at the Berean Table was about the Hymn, Amazing Grace not being such a sweet sound. When I sang in choir in the late 70s and 80s (yes, I’m that old!), during rehearsals, I presented devotionals from my prayer times and then later wrote them in the Choir Wire, the weekly newsletter. The music minister taught us to understand that worship is directed towards the LORD. The hymns, cantatas, and songs we sang should lead others to focus on him, not us. As a result, I was challenged to study how the Levitical choir lead worship in the Temple. That study resulted in a paper I wrote, “Sing Unto the LORD!” I just saw it again recently as I was sorting through my papers and may post it with what I’ve learned since I first wrote it so many years ago.
Although not a whole-hearted advocate of verse mapping, I decided to try it on Colossians 3:16 since it appears to be the new approach to “studying the Scriptures, going deeper, or growing closer to God”— all the different marketing hooks being used by Christian influencers to get other Christians to buy “must have Bible study essentials”, which I may address in another post.
What Paul said
Let the word of Christ dwell richly among you, in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another through psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. ~ Colossians 3:16
What I realized and discovered by searching the Scriptures in order to “map” the verse.
Psalms
There are 150 Psalms which were sung by the Levitical choir as assigned by days of the week and the appointed times. That requires a chart, not a few verses in a circle on an 8.5 x 11 ‘verse map’ page.
Hymns
Songs of Thanksgiving: Nehemiah 12:27, 46 after the wall of Jerusalem was completed and dedicated, for example.
Spiritual Songs
Song of Moses - Exodus 15, Song of Israel - Deuteronomy 31:19-21, Song of Deborah - Judges 5, Song of Hannah - 1 Samuel 2:1-10, David’s last song - 2 Samuel 22:1-7, Song of the LORD, 2 Chronicles 29:27, Songs of Deliverance - Psalm 32:7, Song of Ascents - Psalm 120-132, Songs of Zion - Psalm137:3, Song of My Beloved - Isaiah 5:1-30, Song of Praise - Isaiah 25, Song of Trust - Isaiah 26, Servant Songs - Isaiah 42:10, Servant Song - Ezekiel 33:31, and the Song of Solomon.
Then the Song of Moses (again) and the song of the Lamb, a new song, and the songs of the saints - Revelation 4:11, 5:9-13, 15:3-4 are all included in the book of Revelation. Songs of Heaven is a devotional study I read back in the 70s. While reading it in my car as I waited for my son to finish football practice, another boy’s father who had just arrived to pick up his son, came up to me. He noticed the book, which opened a conversation about church attendance. He was a former Catholic, newly converted and he and his wife were looking for Christian fellowship. I invited them to a Tuesday night prayer group I attended and later they were both baptized into the Baptist church. He went on to become a leader/teacher of Inductive Bible studies (more to come on inductive Bible study in another post). His wife always attributed that one encounter to how it led them to worship and serve the LORD.
Scripture also describes the songs of the Wicked: Song of the drunkard - Psalm 69:12, Song of the fool - Ecclesiastes 7:5
David, the sweet singer of Israel (2 Samuel 23:1) encourages the righteous to:
“Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness. ~ Psalm 29:2
Jesus
Jesus told the Samaritan women, “Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation (Exodus 3:12, 12:31 is from the Jews. But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and Truth. ~ John 4:21-24
Joshua
Now, therefore, fear (reverence) the LORD and serve Him in sincerity and truth and put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the river (Euphrates - Abraham) and in Egypt (children of Israel) and serve the LORD. ~ Joshua 24-14
Paul
Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are unleavened. For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed. Therefore, let us celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice or wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. ~ 1 Corinthians 5:7-8
John - A New Song?*
Psalm 96:1-3
Sing to YHVH a new song; Sing to YHVH, all the earth!
Sling to YHVH, bless His name; Proclaim good tidings of His Salvation from day to day!
Tell of His glory among the nations, His wonderful deeds among all the peoples!
For great is YHVH and greatly to be praised; His is to be feared above all gods.
The Complete Jewish Bible’s footnote on Psalm 96:1 . . .According to Midrash Shemot Rabbah 23:11, throughout the Tanakh, the phrase ‘a new song’ speaks of the coming Messianic Age when triumph will ultimately reign over misfortune.
Joshua told us Who?
Jesus told us Where?, Why?
Paul told us When? How?
John shows us how it all comes together in Revelation
Not only Who we worship matters, but so does how we worship and when we worship Him. So let us worship the Father in Spirit and Truth. That is what He desires. True worshipers are what He is seeking. It is the reason that He rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. ~ Colossians 1:13-14
*New Song references: Psalm 33:3, 40:3, 96:1, 98:1, 144:9, 149:1, Isaiah 42:10, Revelation 5:9, 14:3
May Abba’s grace and peace be multiplied to all of us!
Debra Parker
