Music—A Connection to God

November 21, 2023

I remember well the Sunday night at our church in Oklahoma City. Our music leader, Tom Love, had led in some praise songs. Then, he had us turn in our hymnals to Brethren We Have Met to Worship. I thought perhaps I wouldn’t like it. I was proven wrong! The words were so stirring that by the time we finished, the congregation felt a strong sense of God’s presence. I still can remember that night, some 50 years later!

When Don was at Baylor, we, at times, visited a small church, Grace Gospel Church. Don and I loved a chorus they sang. They repeated it often. It was about God’s peace and just the few lines that they sang were enough to give us a sense of peace. When my mother died, I inherited her hymn books, and I found that song and discovered it had verses! Like a River Glorious is filled with deep meaning and inspiration.

I played the piano in my teens and into my twenties. We sold my piano because it was expensive to move, and we moved often. Ten years ago, when I moved into my current home, I returned from a run and Rebecca met me at the door. She said: I have a surprise for you. She led me to the living room where she had something draped in a sheet. With a flourish, she took the sheet off and there was her garage sale find! She had purchased a Yamaha keyboard. I sat down and played for hours. Playing my keyboard continues to be a special pastime because sometimes I just need to get into another “sphere” and worship and sing.

A friend gave me a puzzle for my birthday. The puzzle is a collection of hymns, and I found myself singing as I put the pieces together. Sometimes I would put the pieces of one song together and that would be my song for the day.

In the Old Testament, music is mentioned again and again. I love the song of Moses and the Israelites after the Lord led them through the Red Sea. Here is part of it –

“Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the Lord:

‘I will sing to the Lord,
For he is highly exalted.
The horse and its rider
He has hurled into the sea.
The Lord is my strength and my song; . . .’”

Then Aaron’s sister, Miriam took a tambourine in her hand “and all the women followed her, with tambourines and dancing.” Miriam sang to them the song Moses had sung.

The Israelites sang and played trumpets and marched around Jericho—per God’s instructions to Joshua. On the 7 th day, they circled twice and shouted—and the walls (which archeologists have dug up and discovered they were very thick) came “tumblin’ down.”

King David, also known as The Shepherd, penned psalms which were words put to music with instructions to the musicians. He wrote and sang in all kinds of situations—when he was fearing for his life as Saul was chasing him, when he repented of his sin, when he remembered God’s work in his life--all to praise God “with psaltery and harp.”

When Jesus had the Last Supper with His disciples, the scriptures tell us that “when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.”

We are told in the letters (also known as Epistles) to sing. In Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, he says: “speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord.”

Isaac Watts, who lived in the 1600’s and early 1700’s, told his father, who was a deacon in the church, that he didn’t like the songs they sang. His father said: “Write some , then!” And he did—over 300! Two of my favorites are Joy to the World and When I Survey the Wondrous Cross, which was also my dad’s favorite.

Think of the descriptions of God on His throne in the book of Revelation and the praise that resounds.

John said a door was opened to him in his vision and a voice (like a trumpet) said to him to “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.”

“At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. And the one who sat there had the appearance of Jasper and carnelian. . . Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders.” John described in addition the four living creatures before the throne.

“Day and night they never stop saying:

‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come.”

This song comes to mind when I read this scripture:

As we enter the week of Thanksgiving that flows into our celebration of Christmas, let’s remember: There’s nothing like the way music lifts our spirits, and powerfully connects us to God.