SINGING

Job 35:10; Acts 16:23-25; Ephesians 5:18-21; Colossians 3:16,17; Revelation 5:9,10

I had an impression about singing and was encouraged by our brother’s word about being watchful. Hymn 150 says ‘And as we wait we sing’. This scripture in Job came to mind; “God ... who giveth songs in the night”. It is put negatively but I wanted to speak of this very comforting thought that God is the One who can give songs in the night.

I suppose we can look at this in two ways. We can think about the present period of the testimony which we are in as being the night season. We read on Lord’s day about the day dawning and the morning star arising (2 Pet.1:19), and we would all feel that this is just about to happen; certainly that would be our hope. At the present time, we are in the darkest part of the night – although the world that rejected Christ has always been awful – but God can come in and give songs in the night. Then for each of us individually, it is sometimes literally during the night that things seem worst in our circumstances. We have tests and trials but we can turn to God and He can come in and provide comfort and give something of the character of these songs in the night. I was thinking how the Father is the “Father of compassions, and God of all encouragement” (2 Cor.1:3), and how the Lord Jesus would give comfort too. The scripture speaks of Him as "able to sympathise with our infirmities" and "tempted in all things in like manner, sin apart”, Heb.4:15. We can know the comfort of divine Persons in secret, even when things seem difficult or dark. The fact that songs are given “in the night" would imply that it would be individual and in secret. We sang at the beginning that the Holy Spirit delights to bring impressions of Christ before us and guide us into the truth, and that we are ‘From glory unto glory brought’ (Hymn 412). The thought of transport would come into singing and individually, in the night, we can know what it is to be lifted above our circumstances and given impressions of the Lord Jesus.

In Acts, these two men had experiences like this. It was literally in the night and they were in the darkest part of the prison and yet “Paul and Silas, in praying, were praising God with singing”. It might not always be literal singing but we can have a song in our hearts. While Paul and Silas were actually singing, it was the outward expression of what was in their hearts. They were praying; I am sure that they were feeling their circumstances, but they were also praising God with singing and there were others who listened to them. Even in difficult circumstances there was a testimony to others around them. I did not read it but when the earthquake took place and the jailor was about to kill himself, Paul said “Do thyself no harm”, Acts 16:28. Paul was thinking about the protection of this man and I think that reflects the state of Paul’s soul. Of course, Paul was an elect vessel and an apostle, but this made me think of what we read in Colossians, “singing with grace in your hearts to God”. We cannot be engaged in song and praise to God unless there is grace in our hearts and I think that is displayed here by Paul. He was thinking of this man’s protection, the man who had locked them in the inner prison. I remember being helped to see that this is like the kingdom operating practically. These two men were in very difficult circumstances and yet they were marked by this protective feature of the kingdom in grace.

These two scriptures in Ephesians and Colossians are very similar, but the one in Ephesians speaks of being “filled with the Spirit, speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and chanting with your heart to the Lord”. This kind of singing is not music that incites natural or fleshly emotions; it is a different kind of singing altogether. It comes from the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and being filled with the Spirit. That would be a test for each one of us, but it shows that the source of this singing is from God by the Spirit. It is speaking to yourselves, so this is no longer only an individual matter but we join together in singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. A psalm, as we have often been told, speaks of our experiences with God, a hymn would be singing together to divine Persons and a spiritual song would be a song of praise relating to divine Persons. We can all be engaged in this together, and it is “singing and chanting with your heart to the Lord”, so our affections are engaged as we sing. I know that we do experience this. I am not only thinking of the actual singing but also for example on a Lord's day morning, we might not actually be singing all the time but our hearts would be singing. We would be engaged in praise and thanksgiving and worship to divine Persons. That would be what They would desire, and we would be engaged in this in our affections. It is not just singing words from a piece of paper, but we are engaged in it and thinking about what we are singing and our affections are stirred up as we sing. Then it says here “submitting yourselves to one another in the fear of Christ”. That would be a good feature, to be submitting ourselves to one another. Being subject to each other would lead to a good state amongst us. It is very attractive.

And then in Colossians, “Let the word of the Christ dwell in you richly, in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another”. We spoke of this on Lord’s day, of full thoughts and full knowledge. The language here is very full; the word of the Christ is to dwell in us richly and it is “in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another, in psalms, hymns, spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to God”. It is a very attractive way to teach and to admonish, to do it in all wisdom and in this way. Again, it might not be actual singing, but persons in whom the word of the Christ is dwelling richly will be marked by wisdom in teaching and admonishing which will result in us being formed in grace and a fuller response to divine Persons. It is a very attractive thought to sing “with grace in your hearts to God”. We could not sing to God with bitterness in our hearts, for example. And then it says “And everything, whatever ye may do in word or in deed, do all things in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father by him”. This would have an effect upon us, that we might be here as persons who are thankful. There is so much to be thankful for. There are many different and varied tests and pressures at the present time; there always have been. With some matters, you do not even know how to pray about them, but there is much to be thankful for too. Think of what we do enjoy together, the prospect of divine Persons coming to take Their abode with us and to serve us, then what we can enjoy as serving Them. How blessed these matters are and we can be thankful for them.

We often consider things that will go through and things that belong to the present time that do not go through. In Revelation, we see that singing does go through. It is something that we can be engaged in now that will go through into eternity. The scripture here speaks of the time between the rapture and the appearing so it is not eternity, but we will be in final conditions and there is a new song. At the present time, we often feel the pressures and feel the exercises of the testimony and the different circumstances that one and another are in, but when we will be singing this new song, there will be none of that. As the hymn says, ‘When past for ever is the night of weeping’ (Hymn 421); there will no sorrow or tears left and all will be entirely new. There will be a song of endless joy in which we will be engaged.

I was thinking too of how the scripture speaks of the Lord Jesus; “in the midst of the assembly will I sing thy praises” (Heb.2:12); how attractive that is. This song that we will be engaged with eternally is not something that we have started or set on, but it is the Lord Jesus who has set it on and we come into it. As Hymn 237 says, ‘The voice of Christ is heard o’er all’; how attractive that is and what a prospect it is, but we can know something of it now, particularly in the service of God. We have been reminded that we can view things as completed and I think that is something we can experience on a Lord’s day morning, what is complete and settled and final. Everything of nature is past and we can be engaged in eternal song.

These thoughts are scattered, but what was in my mind is that we can be engaged in this kind of singing while we wait for Him. May the Lord encourage us and bless these few simple thoughts.

Word in meeting for ministry, Grangemouth
11 October 2016

M.B. Grant

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