We’ve spent the last few weeks discussing the theme of the Singing Church. Asking questions like: why do we sing? What type of songs do we sing? And what is our priority in our singing? For the last entry in the series, let’s ask ourselves this question: what do we do when we don’t feel like singing?
If we were to be honest with ourselves, we may find out that there are times when we just don’t feel like breaking out into song is appropriate or apt to our occasion. There are times when we are sad. Times when we are miserable. And what do miserable Christians sing? Now, surely, there are some of us out there who would answer: Christians shouldn’t be miserable (in a somber corrective tone). However, if we were to be honest with ourselves, we all have times where we find ourselves in a miserable mood.
The Bible’s songbook is the book of Psalms. I love how in God’s all-sufficient grace, he included the book of Psalms in His revealed Word. The book of Psalms is full of examples of what to sing when we are miserable:
How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
How long must I take counsel in my soul
and have sorrow in my heart all the day?
How long shall my enemy be exalted over me? (Psalm 13:1-2)
Save me, O God! For the waters have come up to my neck.
I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold;
I have come into deep waters, and the flood sweeps over me.
I am weary with my crying out; my throat is parched.
My eyes grow dim with waiting for my God. (Psalm 69:1-3)
The Bible’s Songbook gives us a sampling of the full range of human emotions in song form. It allows us to see that there isn’t a necessary predisposition that a Christian must have before they can sing to God. Anger. Sorrow. Confusion. Happiness. All of these provoke songs from a heart affected by a good God. The content of the songs may be slightly different - true - but the songs remain. Scripture clearly models this for us: there are lamenting songs. We all have things in our lives that the proper response to is lament - crying out to God and asking: Why?? How Long? How does this make sense?? At Rose City, we have tried to acknowledge this truth by occasionally incorporating laments into our singing. We sing songs of confession, songs of confusion, songs of sorrow and songs of joy. Ultimately, our job would not be complete as worship leaders if the gospel was not communicated through our songs. So we don’t end in lament. We don’t let sadness have the final word. We end our singing with assurance of the truth of the good news that Jesus is Lord. Despite our apparently miserable circumstances - our laments must resolve in rejoicing in the gospel.
These things don’t always resonate with everyone at all times. There are times in our lives when we just ‘aren’t feeling it’. But take heart Christian: for even on those days when our hearts aren’t feeling it, the days when the worries of this world drown out the natural response to God’s revelation of Himself to us, the rejoicing that is necessitated by it - even on those days, the days our hearts are not in it, God’s heart is. He is committed to his people, for His glory, for our joy. He is faithful. He is steadfast. He is true.
So that is why we sing, even when we don’t feel up for it. Our songs may change, depending on the season of life we find ourselves in. We may sing praises. We may sing laments. But we always sing in response to the assurance of this glorious ‘truth that can calm the troubled soul’: God is good. After all, what our church sings may tell people what we believe. But how we sing it will tell people if we actually believe those things.
I pray, let us be a church that actually believes the things we sing.