Singing Hymns Through Tears

“Oh come, let us sing to the Lord!
Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation.
Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving;
Let us shout joyfully to him with psalms.”
Psalm 95:1-2

How many believers actually sing to the Lord and bring to him thanksgiving? We’re too busy. Our attention is on the cares in our world. We know God is there, we know all comes from him, but we can’t seem to make time for him, nor do we have time to speak to him other than when we need him. We’re glad we can go to church on Sunday because there we will worship him and fulfill that “obligation,” but do we relegate worship to our God just one day a week?

Brothers and sisters, we have to make time. There is nothing in our lives more important than praise and thanksgiving to the One who provides for us every minute of every day and sustains us. When you’re driving in your car, you can be singing. When you’re upon you bed, you can be singing.

Praise and thanksgiving are two of the most powerful tools we have in our walk with the Lord. The great apostle Paul was never too busy to bring his love and worship to the Lord. Let’s look at an incident in his life in which he gave a response that almost no human being would even think to give. He and Silas lay bloodied and bound in a dungeon. What could be worse than that? They’d been whipped and thrown into the dungeon, blood flowing down their backs.

“And when they had laid many stripes on them,
they threw them into prison,
commanding the jailer to keep them securely.
Having received such a charge,
he put them into the inner prison
and fastened their feet in the stocks.”
Acts 16:23-24

It’s almost beyond belief what their response to these terrible straights was:

vs 25:
“But at midnight Paul and Silas
were praying and singing hymns to God,
and the prisoners were listening to them.”

You scratch your head and wonder “How on earth…???” Singing hymns to God??? While laying black and blue, bloodied and bound in a dungeon?

What did they know that we don’t know? What kind of depth did they hold in their relationship to God? What could possibly motivate them to be singing while in pain, while in the worst possible circumstances?

A surrendered heart singing praise to God in terrible circumstances evokes a response from heaven:

vs 26:
“Suddenly there was a great earthquake,
so that the foundations of the prison were shaken,
and immediately all the doors were opened
and everyone s chains were loosed.”

WOW! …Oh WOW! Put yourself there. Can you imagine seeing that?! They must have been stunned!

If you’re in a terrible situation, refuse the demands of your human nature and turn your heart instead to praising God for all that he is, and for all that he does. Bring to him thanksgiving for all you can think of. Sing hymns to him. And then watch for the response from heaven.

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