LET'S SING MORE

"Let the saints be joyful in glory: let them sing aloud upon their beds.
Let the high praises of God be in their mouth,
and a two-edged sword in their hand"
(Psalm 149:5, 6).

How much do you sing in your home? This is a real challenge to me. I love to have beautiful worship music playing as I am doing housework or even Above Rubies work. I love to sing with others, but I have to admit I don't sing personally as much as I should. Sometimes I spontaneously sing for joy but I want to do it more.

Singing is one of the ways we release oxytocin which is the "stress relieving" hormone. God, our Creator, understands this, and of course, this is why the Bible is filled with admonitions to sing to the Lord, to sing aloud, to sing for joy, to sing praises, to sing with thanks, and to sing a new song. The Bible couples together "rejoicing and singing," "laughter and singing," and "dancing and singing."

We listen to a lot of music today. It is normal to see young people listening to music with their headphones. But how often do we actually sing? I remember growing up in a little town in New Zealand. Many men walked to work in those days and you could hear them whistling as they walked? We rarely hear whistling today. I loved listening to mother sing as she prepared meals and went about her housework.

I remember my father telling me how that after a hard day's work and evening meal, his parents would hitch the horses to the buggy, and with the family and portable organ, ride off to the neighbors to sing their hearts out together. They had no TV in those days and this is how they enjoyed their evenings. I am sure they got lots of oxytocin.

One of my favorite things to do is to gather people into our home for a hymn sing, especially with those who know the old hymns and sing them with gusto. We do sing a hymn every morning and evening at our Family Devotions and we sing hymns together at our weekly prayer meeting. We sing them with all our hearts. My husband makes sure of that. He grew up in a hymn singing home where they all sang with every bit of breath in their lungs. The boys sang in the cowshed while they milked the cows and could be heard a mile away. My greatest memories are singing with his family (all nine children and spouses) with their mouths open wide and singing in glorious harmony.

Colin and I were in Scotland a few years ago we went to a prayer meeting where these Scottish Christians sang hymns before they prayed. I have never in my life heard such singing and harmonies. There were only about 20 people present but you would have thought there were a thousand people! I'd love to go back to that church and relive it all over again.

I love many of the current worship songs which we sing at our church fellowship on Sunday but I do believe that as we embrace the new, we should not discard the old. I feel sad that many young people today do not know the wonderful old hymns, filled with truth and sound doctrine.

We always give thanks before each meal, but maybe from time to time we should sing graces too. We always sing "Be present at our table Lord . . ." when the whole family comes together. How I love the harmonies when we get to the Amen.

During the days of the tabernacle and the temple, the Levites sang and worshipped the Lord through every morning and evening sacrifice (which is a type for our morning and evening devotions today). We read the description of what happened in King Hezekiah's time: "And when the burnt offering began, the song of the Lord began also with the trumpets and with the instruments ordained by David king of Israel. And all the congregation worshipped, and the singers sang, and the trumpeters sounded, and all this continued until the burnt offering was finished. . . . Moreover Hezekiah the king and the princes commanded the Levites to sing praise unto the Lord with the words of David, and of Asaph the seer (the writers of most of the psalms). And they sang praises with gladness, and they bowed their heads and worshipped" (2 Chronicles 29:27-30).

If you want to eliminate the stress in your home, begin to sing more. Let's all begin to sing more. Sing out loud. Sing as a family. Sing at your Family Devotions together. Plan a night to sing and worship with friends and family. Sing when you give thanks at the table.

And what about this idea? One night you could plan a supper time where you don't talk at the table but only sing. Everyone sings their requests to pass food to them, or whatever they want to say! That could be a fun challenge.

Have a great singing day, Nancy Campbell

PRAYER:
"I thank You dear Father that You are the source of singing. I thank You that You sing over us. You put the desire to sing within us. All Your creation sings. When you created the earth, "the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy." Help me to sing more. Help us to become a singing family. Amen."

AFFIRMATION:
I will sing of my Redeemer, And His wondrous love to me.

Blessings from Nancy Campbell
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www.aboverubies.org

Scriptures to look up:
Sing OUT LOUD:
Nehemiah 12:42, 43; Psalm 51:14b; 59:16; 81:1; 132:16; 149:5; Isaiah 24:14;
54:1; and Revelation 19:5-7.

Sing a NEW SONG:
Psalm 33:3; 40:3; 96:1; 98:1; 144; 149:1; Isaiah 42:10; Revelation 5:9; and
14:3.