Sing Praises

"Sing praises to God, sing praises; sing praises to our King, sing praises." Psalm 47:6

Do you sing? That question usually infers that if you say yes, then you sing well. Everybody should sing, I think often, but at least every once in awhile. And.... when we do sing, a big portion of what we should sing about should be Him. Too much of the music we listen to is about stuff that we shouldn't even be thinking about, much less singing the words that describe it in gory details. This morning I listened to two sources of music. I have turned my radio dial on one of the buttons to 91.5 KUSC. If you are not familiar with that station it is the last Bastian of free Classical music. The guy who is the host says from time to time that it is God's music. OK I'll buy that to a degree in that it is definitely inspirational and certainly doesn't ever detract me from what I should be doing or thinking. So I encourage you to at least use it as a stand-by to deliver you from the drivel of negativity or seductive slop that plays on secular stations. Of course, my mainstay is KFSH 95.9.

I was also blessed to listen several times to a song sent to me by Warren Sellers. Yes, he is the son of my predecessor, Pastor Henry Sellers. I've met Warren a couple of times and heard some of his songs and really enjoyed them and when we were talking about having him come and share with us sometime, he ended up sending me a recording of his song, "Big Ball". Great song with a message, and very encouraging. As a matter of fact, I'd have to say that this song really helped turn my day around today and I've been singing it ever since I played it enough times to get the basic tune and words.

Songs that inspire and comfort, that convict and encourage are such a wonderful addition to life. I hope you have a collection of Christian music and that you also access good music often. It is said that we are what we eat and probably what we listen to also. I know that I can only hear so much political talk radio before I get turned off and only a little sports radio (except for games) until I get bored. What I find is true is that when I listen to positive, productive and true music I start having a song in my heart that blesses my heart. Aha, maybe what I am getting to is the old adage garbage in, garbage out. If you listen to garbage you will end up thinking garbage. Same as if you watch garbage or eat garbage you get the message.

Maybe one of the reasons that we don't sing praises to God is that we have so much other 'stuff' in our mind that we just can't seem to get the "praises to the King" songs started in our head. Then, funny enough we wonder why we are so depressed and so negative. If we hear depressing music all the time we will be depressed. Why do people record such desperate songs? Because they sell, that's why. Because we enjoy whining and crabbing and trash talking, (the Devil loves it too) and just like the food that makes me feel like crap, there is music that makes me feel like crap and though the taste is tempting, the effects are not so pleasant.

I must add here that there are also people who sing songs to us that can ruin our days. I encourage you to limit the number of verses of such songs and if you have heard the song before and didn't believe it or like it, just turn it off. Enough disappointing stuff happens in life that we don't need to add a bunch of stuff we can avoid. Instead, Sing praises to God, Sing praises to the King. The writers of these Psalms, the sons of Korah, wrote some great stuff. Worth singing, and always ending up on a positive note, too. Hope your day is full of God's music or at least something fresh and meaningful. What song will be in your heart today? Make it a good one that doesn't ruin your day or anyone else’s. With His song in my heart, Pastor Fred

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