Have you ever wondered why people are encouraged to sing during corporate worship?
One such reason is found in Ezekiel 37:1-10.
The Lord took hold of me, and I was carried away by the Spirit of the Lord to a valley filled with bones. He led me all around among the bones that covered the valley floor. They were scattered everywhere across the ground and were completely dried out. Then He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones become living people again?”“O Sovereign Lord,” I replied, “You alone know the answer to that.” Then He said to me, “Speak a prophetic message to these bones and say, ‘Dry bones, listen to the word of the Lord! This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Look! I am going to put breath into you and make you live again! I will put flesh and muscles on you and cover you with skin. I will put breath into you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’” So I spoke this message, just as He told me. Suddenly, as I spoke, there was a rattling noise all across the valley. The bones of each body came together and attached themselves as complete skeletons. Then as I watched, muscles and flesh formed over the bones. Then skin formed to cover their bodies, but they still had no breath in them. Then He said to me, “Speak a prophetic message to the winds, son of man. Speak a prophetic message and say, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come, O breath, from the four winds! Breathe into these dead bodies so they may live again.’” So I spoke the message as He commanded me, and breath came into their bodies. They all came to life and stood up on their feet—a great army. (Ezekiel 37:1-10)
One of the most powerful ways our thoughts are reinforced is through the words that we say. In Proverbs 18:21, we read that “The tongue can bring death or life.” As followers of Jesus, we should choose to actively speak life to ourselves and to those around us. When we sing during corporate worship, we are actively speaking life into the lives of people where Satan wants to produce death.
As children, I learned the saying that many people cling to: “Sticks and Stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me.” The problem is, however, that it’s simply not true. Broken bones can heal but words often take up residence around us, either encouraging us as we face trials or haunting us into depression and despair. Words carry the power to build up or tear down, to strengthen faith and truth or to reinforce lies. Just like complaining words train us to complain more and critical words train us to criticize, speaking (or singing) worship songs and phrases out loud results in more worship as others begin to sing along.
Even though the Lord is omnipresent, we sense Him in even greater ways as people corporately engage in worshiping Him. The Psalmist writes, “But Thou art holy, O Thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.” (Psalm 22:3, KJV) When we engage people in expressing their worship verbally through singing, we sense the Holy Spirit in greater ways as we connect deeper to the Lord, which in turns brings about even more worship.
There’s another benefit to singing corporately that we must realize. In Romans 12:2, we read “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.” When we engage in singing, the words we repeat time again actually help to change our neural pathways which in turn help us focus on the Lord. As we encourage people to sing, the words that come out of their mouths help change them as well. Worship and praise is a great form of discipleship and life (and mind transformation).
When don’t try to get people to sing because we want to have a fun Christian sing-a-long. We don’t engage others in singing praise songs because the songs are cute, cool, or creative. We do so because it helps to transform their hearts and minds as well as our own.
Imagine, as we worship Him, He is about renewing our minds of those engaged in that worship.
We’re not just singing songs. Like Ezekiel, we’re resurrecting an army.
Image Courtesy of Tyler Milligan
