Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
This might make me seem terribly unspiritual, but there’s a point.
For years now I have been a fan of the sport of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA).
One thing I’ve picked up along the way is that some of the best fighters don’t look very threatening at all. In fact, it’s often the opposite. The clean-cut guy with the “Dad-bod” could snap you in half if he wanted.
The fighter with the mean face, tense as a coiled rattler on his way to the cage, may in fact be as tough as he looks. But, oddly, the one you should worry about is the one who is calm and cool making the same walk. Even more, if the guy is dancing and singing along with his entrance music, laughing all the way — he’s the true psychopath.
Run. Run from the singing fighter.
To pay this all off by making a valid, spiritual point, let me ask you, “Why do you think it is that singing has been so important to the people of God, in both testaments of the Bible?”
King Jehoshaphat (2 Chronicles 20) learned a lesson that we need to recapture. He put the singers in front of the army: Not so that they’d be the first ones killed, of course, but because he and all the people had prayed and fasted in response to the threat of military invasion. By the time the war came, they were filled with faith, and had received God’s promise that he himself would fight for them. They could lead out with singing because of their confidence that the war was already won.
Beware the singing army. Sure, they might all be insane. But maybe they know something you don’t.
Likewise, King David has been nicknamed, “the sweet singer of Israel,” because of his musical talent, and the many, inspired psalms he wrote. If you had a choice between fighting him and his rival, Saul, the rough man who stood head and shoulders above everyone else, the smart course would be to take your chances with Saul. Israel reached the pinnacle of its military success under the singer/songwriter. Saul had slain his thousands, but David his tens of thousands. Fear the harpist with a slingshot.
There is a price to pay for churches that sing begrudgingly, with little enthusiasm, or that forego it altogether in fear. Paul connects thankful singing with walking wisely in evil days (Ephesians 5:15-20).
Please understand, this is not to say that there is inherent, magical power in song. As if you can just sing and change the state of things. No, this is to say that the result of really knowing your God, and having peace in evil days, ought to be a thankful, joyful heart. This is the heart that has a reason to sing when confronted with war.
It’s when the whole world is halting and fearful, afraid of what tomorrow will bring, that it needs to hear God’s people joyfully belting out the tunes of Zion. Hell must fear the church that sings with whole-hearted abandon.
Gordan Runyan is the pastor of Immanuel Baptist Church in Tucumcari. Contact him at:
