Psalm 100:1,2 I Lift My Voice
“Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the lands! Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing!” (RSV)
In 1976 Laurie Klein wrote a short worship song that fulfills the words of this verse: “I love you, Lord, and I lift my voice to worship You. Oh, my soul, rejoice. Take joy, my king, in what you hear. Let it be a sweet, sweet sound in Your ear.” Every time I sing this song I can feel the joyful nose I am making to my Lord, and I am excited to realize that He does take joy in my singing, no matter the quality of my voice.
I believe that my Lord takes joy in the singing of praise of any and all of His people. And I also believe that each of us should get great joy whenever we sing words of worship and praise to our Lord. There are many, many great worship and praise songs that we can sing when we are alone or when we are in the company of a group of believers in church. What a privilege we have to bring joy to our King with our voices.
While I get great satisfaction in singing these songs to Him, sometimes I don’t follow the melody—I just speak the words. I do that because I occasionally find myself focusing on the music without thinking of the words I am singing. It’s good for me to slow down and consider each of the words of the song, speaking them as a prayer to my Lord and God. Sometmes it takes me a long time to speak through a song that contains deep meaning and touches my heart, but I find it is time well spent. Sometimes I just hum the tune because I also get blessings from the melody. Hearing a full congregation sing a worship song and singing along touches my soul and raises my spirits.
I guess I am saying that I am blessed by worship songs, whether I sing them alone, just speak the words, just hum the tune, or join fellow believers in raising a joyful noise to the Lord. Thank you to those who write these special songs, and thank you to those who lead worship and praise in church services.
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