July 27, 2024 -- Psalm 98:4-6 -- What songs are running through your mind?

Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth;
    break forth into joyous song and sing praises!
5 Sing praises to the Lord with the lyre,
    with the lyre and the sound of melody!
6 With trumpets and the sound of the horn
    make a joyful noise before the King, the Lord!
Psalm 98:4-6 ESV

Whenever I’m out walking, or riding my bike, I see many people have earbuds in. They’re listening to music. When I’m standing in line at the grocery store, sometimes I’ll notice someone is bebopping to music. Once in a while I’m around people who are humming or singing a fav songs. Music gets past our defenses. Musical scores plant words and ideas into our heads and hearts so that with the slightest encouragement, such songs can pour out from us. The critical question one must be asking is this; what are you listening to? What is going so deep into you that it influences you, shapes you, and flows from you?

Consider carefully these words attributed to Andrew Fletcher (1653-1716, a Scottish writer and politician).
     …if a man were permitted to make all the ballads he
    need not care who should make the laws of a nation,
    and we find that most of the ancient legislators
    thought that they could not well reform the manners
    of any city without the help of a lyric, and
    sometimes of a dramatic poet.
Basically the songs of a nation, the words of a nation’s popular music have more direct impact on a nation than do all the laws and courts. It makes sense. Music is the catechism of every age. It is the instruction in worldly ways of thinking. Ballad-makers capture what is going on and by their tunes teach others to see the world the way they do. Such poets are not teaching the laws of God. Be careful, most of the music of this world is schooling you in the ways of hell.

So, that are you putting into your heart and mind? What is influencing far more than you even realize? Even Christian music must be discerned so that one can distinguish between what is almost right and what is right and true. This is one of the reasons many denominations used to sing the Psalms. Exclusively sing Psalms, so that the words God gave to His people by the inspiration of the Spirit should fill the hearts and minds of His people. 

The passage today teaches the believer that Jesus Christ is the King, He is the LORD. He, the One long foretold in the Old Testament, Who is perfectly revealed in the New Testament. He is worthy of praise and honour because by Him the steadfast love of the Father in heaven has been revealed. In Jesus Christ first Israel, and then the ends of the earth, have seen the salvation of our God .

O LORD our God, You answered Moses and Aaron ; You were a forgiving God to them, but an avenger to their wrongdoings. Spirit of God, guide us in all Truth so that we confess our sins and hate all evil practices, thus conforming our minds and lives to the will of Jesus, our King and Lord. Spirit, with hymns and psalms, and the music of spiritual songs, help us to exalt the LORD our God, worshiping Him alone, knowing He alone is holy and worthy of all praise and adoration and consideration. Amen.
(Prayer is based on Psalm 99:8-9)

https://youtu.be/hALYEEznXFQ?si=XOedO0XvCN2MgGJp Psalm 98

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