What do you think of when you think of giving thanks? I’m
not talking about Thanksgiving as a holiday; I’m talking about the actual act
of giving thanks to someone for something. Perhaps you think of prayer, writing
a thank-you note, or using spoken words. Those things are what first come to my
mind. But recently, I’ve started noticing a different approach to thankfulness
pop up in Scripture.
This month I’ve been participating in a guided exercise
where every day I write a passage from the Bible that focuses on thankfulness.
As I’ve been writing, I’ve noticed a pattern. Of the thirty passages selected
to transcribe, thirteen of them explicitly mention something else in addition
to giving thanks, even tying it directly to thankfulness. Any ideas what it
might be? It’s singing. Let’s take a look, and you’ll see what I mean:
“I will give to the LORD the thanks due to
his righteousness, and I will sing praise to the name of the LORD, the
Most High.” Psalm 7:17 (all verses ESV, emphasis added)
“I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole
heart; I will recount all of your wonderful deeds. I will be glad and exult in
you; I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.” Psalm 9:1-2
“Blessed be the LORD! For he has heard the voice of my
pleas for mercy. The LORD is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts
and I am helped; my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to
him.” Psalm 28:6-7
“Sing praises to the LORD, O you his saints, and
give thanks to his holy name.” Psalm 30:4
“You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; you
have loosed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness, that my glory may sing
your praise and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks to
you forever!” Psalm 30:11-12
“I will give thanks to you, O LORD, among the
peoples; I will sing praises to you among the nations.” Psalm 57:9
“It is good to give thanks to the LORD, to sing
praises to your name, O Most High; to declare your steadfast love in the
morning, and your faithfulness by night, to the music of the lute and the harp,
to the melody of the lyre. For you, O LORD, have made me glad by your work; at
the works of your hands I sing for joy.” Psalm 92:1-4
“Oh come, let us sing to the LORD; let us make a
joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!” Psalm 95:1-2
“Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth! Serve
the LORD with gladness! Come into his presence with singing! Know that
the LORD, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people,
and the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his
courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name!” Psalm 100:1-4
“I give you thanks, O LORD, with my whole heart;
before the gods I sing your praise;” Psalm 138:1
“All the kings of the earth shall give you thanks,
O LORD, for they have heard the words of your mouth, and they shall sing
of the ways of the LORD, for great is the glory of the LORD.” Psalm 138:4-5
“Oh give thanks to the LORD; call upon his name;
make known his deeds among the peoples! Sing to him, sing praises to him;
tell of all his wondrous works!” 1 Chronicles 16:8-9
“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and
admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and
spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.”
Colossians 3:16
Seems like we need to pay attention to the idea of singing
and how it’s connected to gratitude. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that time
and time again singing is mentioned in close proximity to giving thanks. You
might have noticed that “give thanks” is sometimes accompanied by “sing
praise,” and while praise and thanks are technically two different things (I’ve
heard it explained that we thank God for what He does and praise Him for who He
is), we can see by the way the psalms in particular are structured that the
psalmist is essentially reiterating the same thing in a different way, a common
lyrical structure in Hebrew poetry. For example, Psalm 57:9 basically says the
same thing in parts A and B, using different words in each: “I will give
thanks to you, O LORD, among the peoples [A]; I will sing praises to you among
the nations [B].” When we see this pattern emerge over and over again, we
should take note and ponder the implications of the fact that giving thanks and
singing are so closely connected.
I’m reminded of a sermon I heard when I was visiting family
in Texas a few years ago. Joseph Tenney of Church at the Cross preached from 2
Chronicles 20 where King Jehoshaphat and the Israelite people were facing a
formidable enemy. You might be familiar with the verse, “We do not know what
to do, but our eyes are on you”—that’s from this account (2 Chron. 20:12).
The Israelites were in a seemingly hopeless situation, but they fixed their
focus on God, fasting and praying for deliverance. A Levite (whose tribe,
you’ll remember, was the tribe in charge of leading music, among other things)
received a word from the Holy Spirit telling the people not to be afraid, for
God would fight on their behalf.
So the next day, the Israelites went out to meet their
enemy, and the king made a surprising move: “And when he had taken counsel
with the people, he appointed those who were to sing to the LORD and praise him
in holy attire, as they went before the army, and say, ‘Give thanks to the
LORD, for his steadfast love endures forever’” (2 Chron. 20:21). He told
the people to…sing? Yes, you read that right. They were to sing and give thanks
to God—there’s singing and giving thanks showing up together again. So picture
the Israelites standing there facing a multi-nation enemy and putting their
singers on the front lines. Not exactly the most conventional military
strategy, right? What do you think happened next?
“And when they began to sing and praise, the LORD set an
ambush against the men of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against
Judah, so that they were routed [… and] they all helped to destroy one another”
(2 Chron. 20:22-23). Did you catch that? God intervened when the singing
started. Seems like singing praise to God is a pretty significant thing.
Such was the point that Joseph Tenney made in his sermon
entitled “Worship as Warfare.” He emphasized how “worship routs the enemy,”
both the physical enemy in the case of the Israelites and our spiritual enemy
now. And this is where we start to see the importance of singing when giving
thanks. As Elder Tenney pointed out, Satan knows the significance of songs. As
a fallen angel, he once stood before the throne of God, which we know from
Scripture is a place where songs of praise are common. So he knows the power of
music directed in worship to God. Imagine his frustration, then, when God’s
children fix their attention on God, focusing on thanking and praising Him, and
doing so through song. God’s glory is magnified, our hearts are uplifted, and
our faith is strengthened—all things our enemy detests.
Are you being tempted? Are you discouraged? Are you anxious?
Are you discontent? Are you weary? Are you overwhelmed? Think of things to
thank God for. Then go a step further and sing—in your devotional time, while
you’re driving, while you’re cooking or cleaning house or folding laundry or
fill-in-the-blank. Sing a song of thankfulness to God. You don’t even have to
be able to carry a tune. You can make up your own song or sing some of the
theologically rich songs that others have composed. There are even albums like
Glory Revealed and Glory Revealed II that are word-for-word Scripture set to music.
In this way, we can live out Colossians 3:16, which commands,
“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one
another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with
thankfulness in your hearts to God.” Notice that here thankfulness
describes the way in which we sing. So not only does giving thanks occur
alongside or produce singing as we see described in the Old Testament passages
above, but also singing to God in general should be characterized by thankfulness
in our hearts. Singing and thankfulness, thankfulness and singing—the two go
hand-in-hand.
So next time you sing in worship, I encourage you to really
think about what you’re singing and realize how very much there is to be
thankful for. And next time you think of what you have to be thankful for, try
breaking out in song. It might seem awkward at first, but I have a hunch that
the more you make music a part of your spiritual training, the easier it will
become and the more you will realize the beauty of the clues God has given us
in His Word to show us the power of songs of thankfulness to Him.
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