March 4, 2018

"Sing praises to God, sing praises; sing praises to our King, sing praises." Psalm 47:6

 

I remember perfectly the day when I was first introduced to worship music. It was a few years back, before I got to know the Lord. I was in my friend's car. We had a few hours drive. I was complaining about my every day struggles with life not going the way I wanted.  Among other things, my friend shared about how we have choices over the things we let in, and the impact they have on our emotions. Those choices included the music we listen to.  She played for me some worship songs. I remember being very confused about that sort of music. I asked her who was she thinking about, when she listened to those songs. She answered- God. That sounded so strange.  I probably looked at her, like she has lost her mind. To me, music was about rhythm, about romance, about moments in time. It never occurred to me that I could think of God, or praise God by singing to Him.

Nevertheless, I decided to give it a try. After all, the music I listened to, up until that point didn't do much for me. Coincidently or not, shortly after, I was invited to Grace Church, and I got to know the Lord. Few months after, I started to play K-Love at work on my computer, and one of my coworkers absolutely loved it. I watched her bringing that music to her car, to her kids, to her family. She eventually found a church that she loved and had great worship music. I also got to connect with other Christians, both coworkers and clients.

Fast forward, to the present moment. Worship is a vital part of my life. I play worship music in the house, in the car, I go to concerts. I sing almost every day. It's the norm in my life. With that, unfortunately, comes the assumption that it is the norm for everybody else. The reality is, that a lot of people don't know what worshiping is, what singing to the Lord means. Just like me, few years back, they have no clue about it. It's so easy to get lost in grandiose thinking. It's sweet to dream about exciting missions in faraway lands, bringing crowds to the Lord, performing miracles but maybe it's simpler than that. Maybe it's about introducing a friend to a worship song and explaining what it means. We know from Acts 16:25, that singing praises to the Lord can open prison gates. Paul and Silas and all the prisoners were freed while singing praises to the Lord. It has the same power now. Praising the King is the path to freedom from all prisons: anxiety, panic attacks, fear, worry, depression.  

Let's "sing praises to God, sing praises; sing praises to our King, sing praises" but invite somebody else to join us as well!