Songs of Praise
When we lived in Pakistan, we had very little to entertain us. So, with four children we had to devise activities that would keep us all amused. We had a couple of old song books, with some ancient and some not so ancient hymns. There was no music in the song books. A few displayed the measure of the songs; others just had the words. So, we would divide into two groups, three in each group. One group would start with a familiar song, like:
What a friend we have in Jesus,
All our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry
Everything to God in prayer!
Before they finished the first verse, the second group had to find another song that could be sung to the same tune. And we would keep going back and forth until one team could not come up with a song that fit the tune. We learned lots of songs that way, along with a lot of doctrine.
Another time, while taking a break from the summer heat in a cool mountain retreat, we endeavored to learn all the words of “Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation”. Each morning we would add the next verse. All went well until we got to the fourth verse and one of the children mistakenly sang,
“Praise to the Lord, who, when tempests their warfare are waging,
Who, when the elephants madly around thee are raging,…”
Forever after, our family has referred to that hymn as The Elephant Song.
Many years ago, while we were young and starting a family, we lived in Oklahoma. Tornadoes and violent thunder storms were common, and in those days we didn’t have cell phones that would alert us to approaching dangers. No, instead we had to listen to the AM radio for weather updates. During those times, the station would usually put on the most annoying country western music. We endured a lot of it. But we noticed something about the world’s music. Most of the songs were of sadness, failures, and disasters. “My girl left me”, “My dog dun died”, “My pickup went in the levy”, “I lost my job”. I’ve heard that when you play a country-western song backwards, you get your house back, your wife back, your dog back, and your truck back.
Then we noticed something about our Christian songs—they are songs of praise, of victory, of joy, and of thanksgiving. The world does not experience the joy, the freedom we have in Christ. Yes, in this world we may have difficulty; we may experience pain and persecution. But we have confidence that he who created this universe is caring for us and has prepared for us a glorious future. That’s why we can sing with joy. And that’s what Philippians 4:8 says:
“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” (NIV)