Reason #3 - To Help Meditate and Focus on God's Word

Joshua 1:8 “This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it.” 

Along with helping us remember truths about God, singing also helps us meditate on them.

Life is crazy.  As long as there is sin in the world, life is going to be crazy.  Singing has a way of calming us down and helping us focus on what’s important.  “I love you Lord” is a great example of that.  There is something about singing that song that just helps us tune everything else out and focus on that vertical relationship between us and our Lord.

Unlike normal speech, singing allows us to draw out words or phrases, repeat them, or pause in between them. All these techniques help us think more deeply about what we’re singing. 

Say the words of Amazing Grace: “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me.  I once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see.”

Now, try singing it.

Notice how you’re able to think more about the words when you sing them?  That’s because music provides time to think about what we’re saying.

People typically nag on repetition in music.  People say they “tune out” after awhile if a song or section is repeated too much.  I understand it can be overdone, sure.  But, when the repetition of words is combined with music it allows that message to set deeper in our minds.  Honestly, in most aspects, I don’t think we at Edgewood repeat songs enough.  I typically plow through them and get onto the next.  It’s a balance, obviously, but there are some strong benefits to repetition. 

As we sing with faith and understanding, the words we sing are worked deep into our hearts where we can draw from them weeks, months, even years later. Think about these two songs:

It Is Well

It is well, It is well
With my soul, with my soul
It is well,
It is well with my soul

or

I Could Sing of Your Love Forever 

I could sing of Your love forever
I could sing of Your love forever
I could sing of Your love forever
I could sing of Your love forever

Simply reading the words to either one of those songs almost seems silly.  It doesn’t have nearly the same effect as singing it.

Singing “it is well” enables us to grasp that, regardless of storms and trials, it truly is well with my soul. And if we could ever really understand the immense love that God has for us, we truly would sing of His love forever.  

We talked last week about the value of memorizing songs.  Those lyrics will stay with us longer if they’re memorized and we’ll be able to get our eyes off the screens and fully focus on God.  These repetitive songs make that even easier.  This provides an opportunity for us to close our eyes, shut out everything and everyone around us and focus on the only One worthy of our praise. 

So before you criticize repetition in a song, remember why it’s there, and use that opportunity to meditate on those words and focus on your God.

Knowing that singing has been given to us for the purpose of remembering and meditating on God’s Word should greatly influence the songs we choose to sing at church and in our personal lives.  We want to use our singing to deepen and develop our relationship with Him.