The Relationship Between God And Music

By Suzanne Provagna –

One of the characteristics I love about God is that He is direct. Every word has direction and meaning just like the first commandment: 

“I am the LORD your GOD, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before Me.” – Deuteronomy 5:6

Please allow me now to be direct. Worship begins and ends with God. True worship music begins and ends with God. It is for God and to God. God cares deeply about music and we need to study how it is to be used.

The evidence is in the Bible.

I believe that it was a strategic decision that God only waited until the second of the sixty-six books in the Bible to record the first song. The first recorded song is that of Moses and Miriam found in Exodus 15:1-18. The song includes these great lyrics:

“The Lord is my strength and my song; 
He has become my salvation. 
He is my God, and I will praise Him, 
my father’s God and I will exalt Him!”

How and when God places the first song in the Bible is not an accident.

It is also recorded in the Bible that God Himself, sings over us.

For the Lord your God is living among you.
He is a Mighty Savior.
He will take delight in you with gladness.
With His love, He will calm all your fears.
He will rejoice over you with joyful songs.” – Zephaniah 3:17

When my children were young I would sing over them. I could have held my daughter and said, “Hush little baby, don’t you cry” but I didn’t. I sang it. “Hush little baby, don’t you cry, momma’s gonna sing you a lullaby”. I would hold my child and sing to her when she was upset, scared, or hurt. And sometimes I sang to her simply because my love for her was so great that I felt like I had to sing.

Does God sing over us for the same reasons?

And, what does it sound like? Imagine it. GOD, ALMIGHTY, THE CREATOR OF HEAVEN AND EARTH rejoicing over you and me with singing? Quieting us with His love. One thing I know is that it is personal. When you sing over your child it is personal and when God sings over us it is personal.

If GOD the CREATOR of the UNIVERSE sings over us, music must be important to GOD. If music is important to God, then studying how music is used in His worship services must be important to Him as well.

It is recorded in the Bible that Jesus Christ sang to God, His Father. Matthew and Mark both speak of Jesus Christ singing a hymn with His disciples.

“While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to His disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is My body.” Then He took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them saying, “Drink from it, all of you… When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.” – Matthew 26:26-30 

God wanted it recorded that Jesus Christ sang a hymn with His disciples. Jesus did this just after eating His Last Supper. Why there? The Last Supper – one of the most profound events in the Bible filled with such deep emotion. What was Jesus feeling? Love, loss, sadness, fear, sorrow, loneliness. He knew He was going to be betrayed. He knew He was going to feel horrific physical and emotional pain.

Think on this – He knew He would see His mother at the foot of the cross and know that her heart was breaking. He knew that He would bear the sins of the world and the wrath of God. In the middle of this, what did He do? He chose to worship God by singing a hymn to His Heavenly Father with His earthly disciples.

Why did God chose to record this special moment of Jesus singing a hymn to His Father? I think it is because music expresses deep emotion in a way that words alone cannot. Singing to God helps us to keep God first in the middle of chaos and tragedy. Music is important to God.

And finally, here is another great reason that music is important to God. When we sing praise to God here, the angels in heaven join us in singing praise to the Father.

The twenty-four elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne, and worship Him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say: You are worthy, our Lord and GOD, to receive glory and honor and power, for You created all things, and by Your will they were created and have their being.” –Revelation 4:10-11 

And they sang a new song: You are worthy to take the scroll and open its seals, because You were slain…. Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels numbering thousands upon thousands and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and living creatures and the elders. In a loud voice they sang: “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!” –Revelation 5:9-12

Is worshiping God through music important? Yes! Is studying how God wants music used in His worship services important? Yes!

If we don’t understand GOD’s purpose for music in worship, we can misuse it.

The third commandment says: “You shall not misuse My name.” Misusing God’s purpose for music in worship services is both dangerous and sad. It is dangerous because offering a sacrifice of praise that is not pleasing to the FATHER has consequences. There are frightening examples in the Bible of what God has done when unacceptable sacrifices were offered to Him. Worship music is not entertainment time, it is not done to announce the beginning of the service, it is not done because people like music, or to wake them up.

Often we could miss the opportunity to communicate through music our gratitude to God, our love, our deepest places of trust, and our complete surrender to Him. Music at its best expresses God-glorifying emotion. Our most intimate, strongest, purest affections should be reserved for GOD Himself. I believe He gave us singing for that purpose.

Studying music and how it is to be used in worship services is important to our Creator. As worship leaders we are called by a great and awesome God to lead others into His presence. May we always rise up to the privilege and responsibility of leadership by continuing to study God and music.

Worship music begins and ends with God…

The original blog is found here.