Sometimes people wonder why I post songs about the wilderness. Isn’t it enough to just combine Jesus and the wilderness? Why add some music to it, too?
The simple answer is that music has a way of getting into our emotions and carrying us further than simple words could ever take us (poetry is often the same way). You can say, “I see a storm coming, and it seems like it, too, is praising Jesus.” Or you can sing,
“I hear the thunder in the sky
See the sky about to rain
And with the prairies
I am calling out Your name.”*
Music can also express difficult concepts in a simple way. For example,
“Hello, Maker of the Moon
You where there when I was in my mother’s womb
Hello, Tamer of the Tides
Every day You’re working deeper in my life.”**
There’s just more emotion and heart appeal to a song than to a sentence.
God has often communicated with songs. In fact, he dedicated an entire book of the Old Testament to 150 songs that His people sang. David was a man after God’s own heart, and he wrote dozens upon dozens of songs in praise of God (and prayers, too). When the world was created, the morning stars sang (Job 38:7). In heaven, there is singing (Revelation 5:9, among others), and the birds sing all day long. God is the author of music.
It’s not wrong to find music an expression of our faith and our feelings. We can limit our experience to words, or we can let those words become more powerful by using them in conjunction with another medium. Sometimes that means words and music, but it’s not limited to songs. There can be words and pictures, words and experiences, words and moving pictures, words delivered with power – while words carry power, they rarely carry it without a secondary medium to help their power be expressed even more strongly.
So when you want to communicate some words – think about how you can do it the most effectively. Add some pictures or presentation or even just the Spirit of the Lord – or join in singing with the morning stars about the goodness of God.
*Rich Mullins, “Calling Out Your Name” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIVDOoOK9K0
**Elle Limebear, “Maker of the Moon” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jerpinnrqFA
