God's commands are for our good always! So, what benefit is there for you and I when we sing unto the Lord? Well, the Bible is plain, and when God commands us to sing unto the Lord, he tells us what spiritual benefits we may expect!
In my last blog post, We looked at instances where men and women sang "Unto the Lord." You can read that post here: Unto the Lord - part 1
Today, I would like for us to see where God, in inspired Scripture, commands us to sing "unto the Lord."
Psalm 30:4, “Sing unto the LORD, O ye saints of his, and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness.”
Psalm 98:4-5, “Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all the earth: make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise. Sing unto the LORD with the harp; with the harp, and the voice of a psalm.”
Ephesians 5:19, “Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;”
Colossians 3:16, “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.”
I think it is interesting that in Ephesians 5 we receive the command to speak to ourselves (That is, our song is inward) but we make melody in our heart to the Lord. And in Colossians 3 we are commanded to teach and admonish one another (That is, our song is outward) as we sing to the Lord. So a christian should always be certain that his song is ALWAYS to the Lord.
In truth, the only benefit I could receive from speaking to myself in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs comes when I am truly singing to the Lord. Also, the only benefit that anyone could receive from my teaching or admonishing in song takes place when I am singing to the Lord with grace in my heart. Do you see that? Outside of singing to the Lord, there is no benefit God records to music. But, when we sing to the Lord, he is blessed, I am blessed, and others are blessed!
It is alright for God to command us to do things. We are his creation, and children by a new birth, and he has a right to order what we do. But we know that his commandments are not grievous. (I John 5:3) Who does not love to hear good music and who doesn’t enjoy singing along with good music? There is great joy in this commandment!
God has not only given us a Scriptural Command, and a myriad of Scriptural Examples, he has also given us very specific orders on how to make our music unto him! In part 3, we will try to get an understanding of what it looks like when a person sings, "unto the Lord!"