Singing Loudly
Last week, Hope mentioned singing to the Lord of His strength and love. As I reflected on that, I could not help but be reminded of the depths that singing comes from. If nothing else, singing comes from our mind, but it is often much deeper than that. Some would say that singing comes from the soul. There is a reason that congregations of believers gather to sing together every week in worship. We see music bring people to meaningful tears in concerts, weddings, funerals, and almost any other event you can imagine. Singing is a universal expression of something we feel passionately about. How beautiful to feel so passionate about the strength and love of the Lord!
In addition to us singing praises to the Lord, Zephaniah 3:17 comes to mind. “The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness; He will quiet you by his love; He will exult over you with loud singing.”
A few things about this verse stand out to me. For starters, the fact that the Lord IS in our midst. It was true then and it is true now; He is in our present day. He will rejoice over you with gladness. To rejoice is to be full of joy. He will be full of joy over YOU because you matter and you are His. Additionally, He will quiet you with His love and will exalt over you with loud singing. My guess is that most people would hone in on the quiet and love portion, but, to me, the loud singing is what stands out. It could have not mentioned the volume of His singing, but it is in there for a reason, so I had to sit and think about why. When are we singing loudly? When it is something we are passionate about and confident in. Perhaps He is singing loudly over us because He is so sure of us. He knows who we are and what we do. He knows our needs and that He can fulfill them all. He knows our hurts and that He is the only remedy for them. He makes us quiet by loving us so well and He sings loudly over us because He is sure of us, even when we are not so sure of ourselves.
As we embrace a new week of challenges and opportunities, let us find joy in two things this week: let us find joy in singing to the Lord, but let us also find joy in knowing He is singing over us. When the world feels lonely or we are reminded of our hurt and left without explanations, let us remember that the Creator of all things cares so deeply for us and is so passionate about us that He is singing over us. Not only is He singing over us, but He is singing loudly over us! So, let us be still as we embrace His love and let us listen as He loudly sings over us while we look for every opportunity to sing praises of joy or honest pain back to Him.
