Sing to the Lord

“Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the LORD, and spake, saying, I will sing unto the LORD, for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.”
—Exodus 15:1 KJV

Almost everything reminds me of a song.

It might be a word, a line of Scripture, a verse from a poem, or even someone’s name. Something triggers a memory, and suddenly I hear a song in my head. Before long, I may start singing it.

I do not particularly care where I am. I might be walking down an aisle in the grocery store when a song comes to me—and I sing it. I am rather incorrigible that way.

Singing is one of the ways I respond to the world around me. When I am sad, there is a song. When I am happy, grateful, contemplative, or curious, there is usually a song waiting somewhere within me.

So, if something as significant as the parting of the Red Sea happens in my life, I am probably going to sing about it.

That is what happened with Moses and the children of Israel. They had been trapped between an approaching army and an impassable sea. Then God made a way where there had been no way.

They crossed over.

They looked back.

And they sang.

Their song was not an interruption of the story. It was their response to the story. Deliverance became gratitude. Gratitude became praise. Praise became song.

More Than a Song

When we worship, we often sing. Singing is an intrinsic response to the glory and goodness of God. But are these merely songs, or do they call us into a deeper awareness of God and his purposes?

God does not give us an empty command to praise him. He gives us reasons to sing.

He acts within human history in ways so dramatic and redemptive that a song begins to form within us before we are ever invited to release it. We become the tablets upon which compositions of gratitude and joy are written. Eventually, we cannot help but declare his glory.

The song of Moses was simultaneously an expression of gratitude, adoration, remembrance, and celebration. It was a hymn of joy and exuberant exaltation.

The people did not merely observe the song; they entered it. They sang with gusto and full engagement because they had experienced the deliverance about which they were singing.

Sometimes ordinary speech is not enough. The heart needs melody. The soul needs rhythm. Memory needs a song.

Singing Unto the Lord

Some of the singing in our churches can be rather pitiful—not because it is unprofessional. God does not require professionalism, except from professionals.

It is not pitiful because it lacks elaborate instrumentation or trained voices. Nor is it deficient because the music is contemporary or traditional, fast or slow, loud or quiet.

It becomes pitiful when we are not truly singing unto the Lord.

Sometimes we are too shy or self-conscious. At other times, we are too boastful—singing to ourselves or performing for others rather than offering our praise to God.

What is missing from much of our singing is the full engagement of body, soul, mind, and spirit in exultant praise. We may sing the words while remaining emotionally and spiritually absent.

God invites us to be fully present in our praise.

Remember what God has done. Recall the seas through which he has brought you, the enemies that did not overcome you, the doors he opened, the burdens he carried, and the grace that sustained you.

Then let your remembrance become gratitude.

Let your gratitude become praise.

Let your praise become song.

When God brings us through the sea, something within us cries out:

“I will sing unto the LORD, for he hath triumphed gloriously.”

Sing unto the Lord.

Exodus 15:19-21

When the horses of Pharaoh with his chariots and his chariot drivers went into the sea, the Lord brought back the waters of the sea upon them; but the Israelites walked through the sea on dry ground. 
Then the prophet Miriam, Aaron’s sister, took a tambourine in her hand; and all the women went out after her with tambourines and with dancing. 
And Miriam sang to them: “Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; horse and rider he has thrown into the sea.”

NRSVUE