I emailed this to the church that I pastor.
Give thanks to the Lord with the lyre;
make melody to him with the harp of ten
strings!
Sing to him a new song;
play skillfully on the strings, with loud
shouts. Psalm 33.2,3
So, what's with this music and
singing? Is it really all that important that we sing? Well, first, did you
notice that these are commands and not suggestions? (If these were suggestions
that would mean that we don’t need to sing if we don't like to.) No, we are to
sing God's praises because He commands it. But, He has not laid on us some
difficult chore, something contrary to our nature. His command for us to sing
fits us perfectly. We were created to sing. All of creation has been created to
sing. Read, for one example, Job 38.7.
When Israel was led safely across
the Red Sea and then saw their enemies destroyed what did they do? Moses
started up a song to celebrate the victory. (Exodus 15) And that makes sense.
They went from what seemed to be certain death to complete victory. God acted,
and His people responded with emotion. They sang. And that's why we are to
sing. Singing to God is an emotional response. So, in this psalm, He is calling
us to respond to Him not just with our minds (because we understand what He has
done) and our wills (because we obey His commands) but also with our affections.
He calls us to sing in response to the many different ways that He has acted
for us and done us good.