“…Be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.” Ephesians 5:18,19
There is no doubt that “singing and making melody in your hearts to the Lord” is a wondrous gift, capacity, and means by which the child of God, the saved sinner, the disciple of Christ, can individually know God, and with other believers, participate in a blessed fellowship with the Father and Christ by the Spirit. Not only does the Apostle Paul mention this in his letter to the Ephesians, but to the Colossians, he would write: “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.” (Col. 3:16) The “songs of the saints,” rising together from hearts that are filled with the Spirit, is precious in the sight of God. They are one of those blessed demonstrations of faith provided by the Father by which the great truths of God, and Christ, are taken by the Spirit of God, and brought into the living experience of worshipping God in Spirit and truth. Out of that unified symphony of worship, is born an edification in the soul of the individual believer, that ever increases by the consciousness and wonder of the quiet, and blessed, presence of God the Father, the Son, and Spirit. There is nothing that so lifts the spirit and soul of the believer, and groups of believers, churches, and crowds pursuing Christ, as that awareness in truth, that one is in the presence of God, our Savior, King, Keeper, Life and Love. How do we know this, see it, and realize it by faith?
The Psalms in the Bible are those powerfully perfect expressions of the experience of knowing God, taking Him at His word, and then proving Him to be what He declares Himself to be, ever present, faithful and true. In Psalm 37, a song written by David, he speaks primarily of two groups of people, those who do not believe in God, in rebellion against God and the things of God, the other camp being those who “trust in the Lord.” In the consideration of the latter camp, we find them to be those who are actively trusting in God according to His word. The admonition of David in his psalm is to first of all trust in the Lord, delighting oneself in Him. This is by a faith that is based upon the great truths of God revealed in Scripture. The practical application of David’s call to “commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him,” is sung about to enable the believer to remember that God is a Rewarder of those who truly seek Him. Out of that worship of God in faith, doing that which is good, delighting oneself in Him, in Christ, and then committing one’s way to the Lord, comes the blessed assurance that God will give His desires to the believing heart. God’s faithful response and reward to the one who sings and believes these timeless truths, is that “…He (God) shall bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday.” (37:5) Taking the great truths of the Psalms, and making them our own by faith, joyfully singing them to the Lord, choosing to live according to them by a life of faith, results in the revelation of Christ to the heart by the Spirit. This is what we see in the Gospel of John, when Jesus said, “He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him, and manifest Myself to him.” (Jn. 14:21)
Singing Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to the Lord from the heart, is a joyful expression of love for Christ, for it brings into focus His love for us. By the Psalms of Scripture, and hymns of the saints, Christ is known.
Dear Father, Fill us with singing. In Jesus’ name, Amen.