Why Sing? | Page 4 of 11

Psalm 77:6 talks of Asaph recalling songs in the night.  He was “too troubled to speak.”  His heart mused and his spirit enquired as he tossed and turned on his bed.  He stretched out untiring hands, and refused to be comforted.

William Cowper was a friend of John Newton, and suffered from what we now would call manic depression.  He had extraordinary highs and lows all his life.  Through it all, John Newton did what he could to encourage Cowper in hymn writing.  The following is found on his gravestone:

With quiet sadness and no gloom, I (Newton?) learn to think upon him,
With meekness that is gratefulness to God whose Heaven hath won him,
Who suffered once the madness-cloud to His own love to blind him,
But gently led the blind along where breath and bird could find him;

And wrought within his shattered brain such quick poetic senses
As hills have language for, and stars, harmonious influences:
The pulse of dew upon the grass kept his within its number,
And silent shadows from the trees refreshed him like a slumber.

Here is a “song in the night” from William Cowper.

How tedious and tasteless the hours When Jesus I no longer see;
Sweet prospects, sweet birds and sweet flowers, Have all lost their sweetness to me;
The midsummer sun shines but dim, The fields strive in vain to look gay.
But when I am happy in Him, December’s as pleasant as May.
His Name yields the richest perfume, And sweeter than music His voice;
His presence disperses my gloom, And makes all within me rejoice.
I should, were He always thus nigh, Have nothing to wish or to fear;
No mortal as happy as I, My summer would last all the year.

Content with beholding His face, My all to His pleasure resigned,
No changes of season or place Would make any change in my mind:
While blessed with a sense of His love, A palace a toy would appear;
All prisons would palaces prove, If Jesus would dwell with me there.

Dear Lord, if indeed I am Thine, If Thou art my sun and my song,
Say, why do I languish and pine? And why are my winters so long?
O drive these dark clouds from the sky, Thy soul cheering presence restore;
Or take me to Thee up on high, Where winter and clouds are no more.

Songs of joy are another category, perhaps the most significant and appropriate.  Job 38:7 refers to the occasion when the world was created, and the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy.

Zephaniah 3:17 tells us that God himself sings!  Wouldn’t you like to hear that?  Maybe someday we will.  And what is the mood of God’s melody? He rejoices over us with singing!  God rejoices when he sings over us, for he takes great delight in us.

While there are many moods in the worship of God, Psalm 100:2 commands us to come before the Lord with joyful song. Charles Wesley had it right when he wrote the song: REJOICE THE LORD IS KING.

Rejoice, the Lord is King! Your Lord and King adore;
Mortals give thanks and sing, and triumph evermore;
Lift up your heart, lift up your voice; Rejoice, again I say, rejoice!

Jesus, the Savior, reigns, the God of truth and love;
When He had purged our stains He took His seat above;
Lift up your heart, lift up your voice; Rejoice, again I say, rejoice!

His kingdom cannot fail, He rules o’er earth and Heav’n,
The keys of death and hell are to our Jesus giv’n;
Lift up your heart, lift up your voice; Rejoice, again I say, rejoice!

He sits at God’s right hand till all His foes submit,
And bow to His command, and fall beneath His feet:
Lift up your heart, lift up your voice; Rejoice, again I say, rejoice!

He all His foes shall quell, shall all our sins destroy,
And every bosom swell with pure seraphic joy;
Lift up your heart, lift up your voice, Rejoice, again I say, rejoice!

Rejoice in glorious hope! Jesus the Judge shall come,
And take His servants up to their eternal home.
We soon shall hear th’archangel’s voice; The trump of God shall sound, rejoice!