Sing It Out Loud!

Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.

Worship the Lord with gladness;

    come before him with joyful songs. Psalm 100:1-2

In the church we went to years ago there was an awesome guy named Jim. He was a giant of a man, well over six feet tall and had a large build to go with his height. Jim had a big, deep, booming voice that matched his giant frame. When it was time to sing Jim was not particularly good at holding a tune, but he more than made up for it with lots of volume as he unabashedly belted out songs.

For most of my life during the music at church I would sing just loud enough to hear myself. My volume might move up a slight notch when the Spirit moved me. But I was envious of Jim’s fearless, shameless, loud singing.

Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. Colossians 3:16

In all the verses in the Bible about singing and hymns there is never the caveat–only sing if you have a good singing voice.

I have been a lifelong music lover. As a boy I loved listening to The Jackson Five, The Osmonds, Elvis, and Dionne Warwick. In third grade a fellow student brought in a Doobie Brothers album to play in our school room and I first heard the song “Black Water” and thought it the best song on earth. By my teenage years I was joyfully drowning in Rock Music, a flood of it constantly playing wherever I went. And it seemed a great new band was popping up each week to enjoy listening to.

I don’t have a good singing voice. Between my year around allergies and stuffy nose and my asthma which sometimes leaves me breathless while singing, it is no wonder why I keep my singing at a low volume. But that doesn’t let me off of the hook. 

If you look up the word “song” in the NIV Bible you get one hundred and ten results. You get additional results if you look up the word “hymn”, and the entire “Book of Psalms” is a songbook. Clearly the Bible places music in a critical role regarding our service and worship of God. Great singing voice, or gravelly voice, nasally voice, or otherwise, we are all to sing to the Lord as a part of our worship.

It always made me smile and brought joy to my heart to hear Jim singing loudly off key in church. I think God and His angels must have smiled as well. Perhaps one day we will all be gifted to sing with perfect pitch like the heavenly beings who worship God continually. 

Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name. Hebrews 13:5

We may get a slight dent in our pride when we sing loudly to God before others. It may be a “sacrifice”, but it is one worth making. Jim is the example to those of us who leave our singing voice in the shower when it comes to church. But maybe, perhaps, if all of us terrible singers get louder the cacophony of singing may become a joyful noise of praise that pleases the Lord.

Dear Lord, music is a gift that blesses us all. While individually we may not be the best singers, help us to lay aside our misgivings and pour out our praises to You. For You deserve our praise and worship, especially in singing. Amen.