DAD'S RAMBLINGS -- SINGING TO ONE ANOTHER

DAD'S RAMBLINGS – SINGING TO ONE ANOTHER

Psalm 136:1-3: "Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever. Oh give thanks to the God of gods! Oh, give thanks to the Lord of lords! For His mercy endures forever."

This psalm is an exercise for your imagination. Just imagine two great choirs singing to each other in antiphonal praise. The choir on your right side sings, "Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good!" The choir on your left side sings back, "For His mercy endures forever." Throughout this psalm, one choir sings a verse, and the other sings the chorus, "For His mercy endures forever."

I get this picture of two choirs from the instructions given to the musicians at the dedication of the wall built by Nehemiah. (Nehemiah 12:31, 38; see also II Chronicles 7:6; I Chron. 15:16n; II Chron. 5:13).

Singing is a God-ordained form of worship and is a vital part of our praise. It has been supposed that Lucifer was the one in charge of music in heaven before his fall. And King David assigned whole households of Levites to be the singers in the tabernacle worship (I Chronicles 6:31-32). 

Although it is not used in this Psalm (136), the Hebrew word for singing praise "praises" is zamar. It is used to indicate both vocal and instrumental music, as in Psalm 147:7b: "Sing praises on the harp to our God."

When Governor Newsom of California forbade singing in churches during the COVID pandemic, he struck at the heart of worship. Let us never minimize its importance as a part of our worship. As it is recorded in Psalm 92: "It is a good thing to praise the Lord, and to make music to Your name, O Most High"

So let us speak to one another in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in our hearts to the Lord (Ephesians 5:19).

Love, Dad