Worship: More Than Making Music

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 timbrel and dancing, praise him with the strings and pipe, praise him with the clash of cymbals, praise him with resounding cymbals. Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. PSALM 150 (NIV)

Key points:

It‘s a mistake to confine worship to singing, or to make it merely musical.

Worship is a whole life offering of ourselves to God. And yet, particularly in our churches, we identify worship with music, focusing on that one aspect of wider worship.

Worship is a whole life offering of ourselves to God – not confined to singing.

Given that, we need to consider our attitudes to musical worship. The psalm today reminds us that praise of God can embrace all sorts of music. It’s sad to hear people in conflict over music in church. Without being irreverent, I think we can say that God doesn’t favour one sort over another.

God doesn’t favour one sort of worship over another.

He’s delighted to hear an organ recital; delighted to hear children’s choruses; loves the traditional hymns; is so glad contemporary writers are composing songs of praise to Him accompanied by contemporary instruments and arrangements. God is not stuck in the past or neglectful of the past. Unlike us, He doesn’t let His personal preferences sway His judgements and reactions.

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As long as His people are sincerely praising Him and allowing such praise to lead to daily obedience, He is content. Bongo drums or pipe organs are OK by Him as long as such sounds emerge from thankful and devoted hearts.

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Devotion written by David Reay

Originally published as Worship – Making Music

Feature image: CanvaPro