Singing To Praise God

Richard Thetford

Do you enjoy singing praises to God? Every Christian should answer YES to that question. But yet there are times when we gather together for the worship assembly that I wonder if we really do enjoy singing. Sometimes the singing is powerful and strong as it should be and at other times it sounds weak with very little emotion. We should be concerned about our singing because singing is a required and important part of our worship to God. It is through the praises that we sing that we get the opportunity to teach and admonish one another. Paul wrote: “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord” (Col 3:16). When God’s Word dwells within us RICHLY, we will express our joy to God in the teaching and admonishing of one another in song!

We know that we are not to entertain men with our singing, but rather we are commanded to sing to praise God. The Hebrew writer said: “I will declare Your name to My brethren; in the midst of the assembly I will sing praise to You” (Heb 2:12). When we sing to God we must sing with the spirit and understanding. Paul wrote to the Corinthian brethren and said to them: “What is the conclusion then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will also pray with the understanding. I will sing with the spirit, and I will also sing with the understanding” (1 Cor 14:15). We must also sing with grace in our hearts to the Lord (Col 3:16).

Singing is a vital part of our worship to God. When we sing praises to God with the proper spirit and understanding, with grace in our heart, then our song service will be joyful, meaningful, and able to teach and admonish one another. But if we don’t have the proper attitude and prepare ourselves to sing to God, then our song service will be dull and not able to lift each other up. Let’s all strive to prepare ourselves to give God and each other our very best in our song service!