10.04.2008

Musical Musing: Sing Alleluia, Jennifer Knapp & Mac Powell, City On Hill

Now playing: Jennifer Knapp/Mac Powell - Sing Alleluia
via FoxyTunes
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All creatures of our God and King
Lift up your voice and with us sing
Sun, moon and stars rejoice on high
Praise to the Lord of light divine

Sing alleluia, sing alleluia
Praise the Father above
Sing alleluia
Sing alleluia, sing alleluia
For His infinite love
Sing alleluia

Praise to the Giver of good things
Merciful Father, holy King
Join with the angels, sing out loud
Praise Him who reigns above the clouds

Sing alleluia, sing alleluia
Praise the Father above
Sing alleluia
Sing alleluia, sing alleluia
For His infinite love
Sing alleluia

O praise Him (when the morning comes)
Alleluia (for the rising sun)
O praise Him (when the day is done)
Alleluia (praise the Lord of love)
O praise Him (alleluia)
Alleluia (alleluia)

All creatures of our God and King
Lift up your voice and with us sing!

Sing alleluia, sing alleluia
Praise the Father above
Sing alleluia
Sing alleluia, sing alleluia
For His infinite love
Sing alleluia

Sing alleluia, sing alleluia
Praise the Father above
Sing alleluia
Sing alleluia, sing alleluia
For His infinite love
Sing alleluia

OK, so maybe I’m a little slow on this one. I’ll grant that. I tend to be rather stubborn and bull-headed and have to learn things the hard way… I may joke that God has a high holy 2x4 in heaven with a Heather shaped dent in it, but it wouldn’t surprise me in the least if it were true… that it takes that much to hammer through my thick head and get through to me. So if the following seems like old news to you, I apologise. Try not to yawn too much… try remembering how it felt for you the day it was first made real to you, the day it burst forth in your soul the way it is in mine today (so much that even though I was driving to the gym, I had to leave myself a voice message and call my parents to have them email me so I’d remember to write about it once I finished my workout) and enjoy it vicariously.

If you’ve been reading my blog with any regularity, if you’ve read much of my work, or know me well at all, then you know that I’ve not exactly had a cakewalk for life. There have been plenty of nights when I’ve had more than enough reason to cry myself to sleep, more than enough anxieties and worries to fray my mind and wear at my strength, more than enough reasonable excuses to unwind my sanity and sink into the relatively safe blanket of catatonia. And yes, there have been many nights that I’ve cried myself to sleep, many days lost to anxieties and worries, and even a few times I’ve reached for escape.

What I’ve learned in the past 30 years, and more acutely in the past 10 than in the previous 20 before those, is how to soothe my savage breast. I’ve learned, when the heartache threatens to crush me, how to throw out a life-line to sanity and hope and cling through the worst storms my life can throw me. I’ve learned, when stress tries to cut me down, how to crawl away from it until I can soar free of it. I’ve found the secret that comforts my broken heart when I’m crying at night, when I’m fearful in the day, when I’m stressed, or yes, even when I’m driving (probably too fast, though I’m trying to do better about that).

I listen to, and unashamedly sing along with (though sometimes silently) praise music. It’s how you get these Musical Musings, big surprise. I play the songs over and over and over again, sometimes on repeat, sometimes in shuffle, and sometimes, it’s just me trying to sing the songs I’ve sung before, silently because I can’t sing aloud (try it in an MRI machine sometime… until the machine gets so loud that you can’t hear yourself thinking inside your own head, it’s a pretty nifty calming technique!) for whatever reason.

So what, you may be asking yourself. Why would it matter? Well, for a long time, I thought it was as simple as the fact that when I turned my focus from myself to my Saviour, then it was harder to wallow in sorrow. But… how is praise music able to break that hold when nothing else does? I mean, don’t get me wrong, I love the Beatles, but John, Paul, Ringo and George were never able to break me out of a funk the way Third Day or Nichole Nordeman can. I’d never given it much thought.

Until tonight, that is. As I drove the short distance to the Y, with my obligatory praise mix-CD in the car stereo (yes, you do want that playing… I’m more patient, thoughtful, and kind a driver when my mood is tempered by music that reminds me I’ve been bought for a very dear price), “Sing Alleluia” came on. Now, I’ve had this CD for years now… I’ve listened to this song hundreds of times, I’m sure. I’ve sung with it, I’ve loved it, the call the worship within its words, the way it’s almost a doxology. But something about it hit me tonight, and I finally understood something about the mystery of Praising God that I’ve never understood before.

You see, God doesn’t give us commands or rules for empty reasons. Every law He ever handed down was put into place to protect or preserve us somehow, to teach us about who He is, His nature… but also as a loving Father, an adoring husband… (yes, I know, that’s really weird. I’m looking forward to eternity so He can explain THAT one to me). For instance… Men, you may want to close your eyes for this, but if you’ll bear with me, I do have a point…

In the Old Testament, God instructs that male infants be circumcised on the 8th day after birth. Stop squirming and keep reading. At the time, the procedure would help provide the people with the cleanliness they needed to stay healthy. But then why wait? Why not just do it right away, before the Baby knows what’s really going on, while the trauma of birth is still fresh enough to cover everything else? A newborn doesn’t have a fully developed immune system. His immunities have been completely dependent upon his mother’s blood supply until birth. He’s not making his own antibodies yet (neither are girl babies, but this is a procedure done on males, so we’re sticking with the male pronoun) because he hasn’t had to yet. For the first few days after his birth, he’s still totally dependent upon his mother for antibodies and immunities. But, cut off from her blood supply, how is she to provide him with what he needs? Every time her tender love and nurturing instincts cause her to kiss him, she picks up all of the microbes on his body. Her body, with a mature, fully functioning immune system, makes the antibodies to fight the very bugs she’s picked up by kissing her son, and then supplies them to him in her breast milk. It’s an amazing thing, really. And by the time her son is 8 days old, all the constant feeding, all the kisses and the passed antibodies, all the time he’s had gives him the time to build an immune system of his own. If the procedure were done before he was 8 days old, the risk of him developing an infection is too high. If it’s done after that, the risk that he’ll remember it, remember the pain goes up. God gives a rule to protect his people, giving what seems an esoteric time demand on it, and all the time, there’s protection in it.

Praise is the same way. No, it’s not a surgical procedure, not quite. But it is a command that we’re given, and I’m coming to believe that, while it is hugely beneficial to God, it is of far far greater benefit to us. If you want to dispute the claim that it’s a command, just do a concordance or word study… see how many times the word “praise” shows up in the Bible. Seriously. Boggles the mind. But while we are certainly told to praise God because He is more than worthy of our praise, as creator, as God, as Saviour, as Judge… for all the wonderful reasons I’ve listed and all the ones I will ever list, there’s something else at work.

Psalm 22:3 tells us that God is enthroned in our praise. Other translations say that He inhabits our praise. Stop and think about that for a moment. God almighty, who is so big that even heaven can’t contain Him (1Kings 8:27) LIVES in our praise.

When I am afraid, and I sing myself to sleep, my God, the All Mighty, is LIVING in the praises I sing to Him. He is with me.

When I am lost, heartbroken and utterly alone, and I sing praise songs silently in my head, my God, the Comforter that my Saviour promised me, is LIVING in the praises I sing to Him. He is with me.

When I am in my car, trying to obey the speed limit, and a song comes on my cd player, and I sing absently until the thoughts seize my mind and I am thrilled again, my God, my Beloved who gave up Heaven to redeem me to Himself, makes my song HIS THRONE. He is with me.

God. Inhabits. My praise. Immanuel. God WITH us.

Are you stunned yet? Because as awesome a thought as that was, it got better.

You see, Beloved, the reason I’m not afraid when I sing praise? It’s not just because I take the focus off my own temporary, limited view (though that certainly helps) and my own pithy problems. It’s because GOD inhabits my praise… And Beloved… Where God is, there is no mourning, there is no sorrow, there is no death. There is only JOY. Joy. Pure, unadulterated Joy. God commands us to praise Him because He know it will plug into the source of life, of love, of joy… it will plug us into Him!

Revelation 21:1-7 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!" Then he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true." He said to me: "It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son…”

Isaiah 44:23 Sing for joy, O heavens, for the LORD has done this; shout aloud, O earth beneath. Burst into song, you mountains, you forests and all your trees, for the LORD has redeemed Jacob, he displays his glory in Israel.

Isaiah 51:11 The ransomed of the LORD will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.

Zephaniah 3:17 “The LORD your God is with you,
He is mighty to save.
He will take great delight in you,
he will quiet you with his love,
he will rejoice over you with singing."

Beloved, I will sing. I will sing, because when I sing, God Himself is with me, enthroned upon my praise, rejoicing with me, singing with me, delighting in me, quieting my fears and anxieties with His love. Sing with me, Beloved, sing with me, and experience the miracle of Immanuel!