Joy In Hymn

Hello All,

You know, with something as remarkable as The Bible so readily available, it saddens my heart when people give such a distorted perception of God based on such limited and biased information. I remember in the movie Bruce Almighty, “Bruce” spoke up in disappointment to "God"(Morgan Freeman), saying that “God is a mean kid on an anthill with a magnifying glass”. I wonder how many people actually see Him that way. Lord knows there’s enough stories in the Bible that one could twist to support such an absurd notion. I don’t take way from God’s Sovereignty to rule and exercise judgment or wrath, but surely not ALL judgment and wrath. Some people take the same ill-informed issues with the Bible; "It’s all about who begat who and somebody did such and such..." OR "...It’s all about rules and stuff you HAVE to do so you don’t make God mad." Really?

So, what do YOU think it’s all about?

That’s the thought I'd like to address today. Even we, in the household of Faith, can have an unbalanced view of God. So hopefully, here’s a little something to add balance. Of course we all have favorite verses and I would contend that they usually stem from the idea of “helping us through” or the promises we have to look forward to when times are tough. But isn’t it interesting that the biggest book in “The Book” is the book of Psalms? A book of songs. Even though all of the songs aren’t “happy” songs, they all find a place in our reality at one time or another. It’s also noteworthy to me that most of the Psalms are attributed to King David, who’s called a man after God’s own heart. I believe that God has a heart for music.
I believe true Joy in Him, goes hand –in- hand with musical accompaniment.

Here’s the Word;

Ephesians 5:18 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;19 Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;

Isaiah 35:10 And the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

Zephaniah 3:17 The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing.

Seems to some that the picture of holiness conjures up the image of clasped-hands, head covered and bowed, and a quietly devout demeanor. Of course I don’t want to take anything away from that humility, but seeing that even God rejoices with singing - what if:
Why wouldn't the picture of David Dancing before the LORD is just as pleasing to God’s heart? David was a man of war; so much so that God denied his request to build the temple. But that’s not all there was to David. David knew how to JOY in the Lord and obviously had a rather extensive playlist in his heart to draw from. I like to update my Facebook status with the songs I find occasionally playing in my heart. Some are favorites from my childhood, some are more recent.

If you haven't seen much of this side of your singing, rejoicing God before, I sure hope you embrace Him, and likewise enjoy Him in music and singing.

So, what’s on your playlist? What do you play as you find Joy in Hymn?


In Him,
Cros