Turn up the Music

by Brandy Webb

I am grateful for music. Not only because I love to sing, but because I love how powerful music is. Music can bring back memories long forgotten. It can make us feel energized. It can also give us goose bumps or make us cry. It is emotional, and I love how music can bring glory to our Father and our Messiah.

Music is so neat considering the fact that even deaf people can feel music. In fact, the “perception of the musical vibrations by the deaf is likely every bit as real as the equivalent sounds, since they are ultimately processed in the same part of the brain” (WebMD). How cool is that?

Therefore, I want to shout, “I am grateful for music!” I also know that music is important to God. The longest book of the Bible is a writing of songs. Since David wrote many of them and he was a man after God’s own heart (Acts 13:22), I can deduce that God enjoys music.

There are so many references to praising God with song. The first thing the Israelites did after crossing the Red Sea was to sing to God (Ex 15). King Jehoshaphat put those appointed to sing to the Lord and praise Him in front of the army of Judah when they went to battle against Ammon, Moab, and Mount Sier (2 Chron 20:21). And the really neat thing is that when the enemy heard the singing and praising, “the LORD set ambushes against the sons of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir” (2 Chron 20:22). By the time Judah got to the battlegrounds, the enemy was dead because they fought themselves (2 Chron 20:24). I know that God didn’t need the music to defeat Judah’s enemies, but it is pretty neat that He used it anyway.

I believe that God loves it when we praise Him with song. Why else would David appoint four thousand to praise the Lord (1 Chron 23:5)? Therefore, we need to praise our God with songs even if we can’t hold a tune. Remember David tells us to:

Praise the LORD. Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens. Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness. Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise him with the harp and lyre, praise him with tambourine and dancing, praise him with the strings and flute, praise him with the clash of cymbals, praise him with resounding cymbals. Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD.

So, as you are going through your day, turn up the music. Sing songs of praise. For fun, we can try to do what Paul states in two places, we could sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to each other (Eph 5:19; Col 3:16). Okay, maybe that would be a little much, but it is in the Bible. My main desire is just to share that there are so many things that we need to be grateful for that get overlooked, and music is one thing that I believe we can be grateful for especially since it is such a powerful and fun way to praise our Heavenly Father and our Savior.