Please, Please, Sing me a Song

What would you do if you were sitting down eating a meal with me and I looked you in the eyes and starting singing “How Great is our God“? Or what if I called you after work, asked how your day went and then said, I’d like to sing you a song…

Ephesians 5:19 says “… be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart.”

Additionally,
Colossians 3:16 says, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.”

What is principle behind these texts? Does God want us to sing together or to one another? The answer to the former is yes, of course He does. This is one of the reasons that corporate worship in song has been such a major part of the evangelical tradition. This worship through song is so important because it gives believers a chance to profess truths about God together.

But what about the phrase in Ephesians 5:19, “addressing one another in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs“? The syntax here demonstrates that one is giving or directing a psalm to another person. Therefore, the Scriptures teach that a Christian is to give pslams, hymns, and spiritual songs to one another.

Now before you run out and create a Pandora station to gift me or mail me a copy of the Gaither’s most recent album, let’s think about this for a second. Why would Paul command that Christians direct songs to one another?

The content of every psalm, and every good hymn or spiritual song is the glory or the glorious acts of God. Perhaps Paul is encouraging believers to make it a major priority constantly remind one another of the glorious acts of God.

This principle is all over the Scriptures. Moses tells Israel to remember God’s mighty acts in Egypt (Deut. 5:15). Psalm 107:22 says to “tell of His deeds in songs of joy.” In 1 Chron. 16:24, David declares, “tell of his glory… his wonderful deeds among all the peoples.” God is honored through His people speaking of His mighty acts.

There is something about my fallen heart that tends to forget the goodness… the mighty acts… the glory of God. Thus, I need others to come to me and “sing a psalm” or a hymn to me, lest I forget how God has revealed Himself in the Scriptures and in history.

So please, sing me a song… don’t let me forget.