Principle Two of Music And The Worshiping Church by Harold Best

This week on worship.vintage21.com, we’re looking at five principles of music making in a worshiping church, from Harold Best’s Music Through The Eyes Of Faith.

Principle Two: Playing instruments to the Lord is just as forcefully commanded as singing.

Best cites Psalm 147, 149 and 150 as examples of instruments being used in worship

“Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving;
make melody to our God on the lyre!”
- Psalm 147:7

“Praise the Lord! Sing to the Lord a new song,
his praise in the assembly of the godly!
Let Israel be glad in his Maker;
let the children of Zion rejoice in their King!
Let them praise his name with dancing,
making melody to him with tambourine and lyre!”
- Psalm 149:1-3

Lest you think the only instrument acceptable to praise God is the lyre, with an occasional tambourine thrown in for good measure, read this excerpt from Psalm 150:

“Praise him with trumpet sound;
praise him with lute and harp!
Praise him with tambourine and dance;
praise him with strings and pipe!
Praise him with sounding cymbals;
praise him with loud clashing cymbals!
Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord!”
- Psalm 150:3-6

Several years ago @PastorTyler Jones preached a series based on Psalms 140-150. We wrote a song based on each of those psalms, many of which can be found on the V21 Album “All Things Praise”.  @TaylorRobertsOK wrote a song called “Wood and String” based on Psalm 149, and I wrote “We’ll Praise You” from 150. Both psalms are a command to praise God, and Psalm 150 in particular charges us to use instruments in this time of praise. The beautiful Psalm 150 serves as the grand finale of the entire catalog.

What is at the heart of the command to praise God with instruments? Does God simply love instruments? If we don’t have instruments handy, is our praise less than worthy? Note that the Bible does not contain a praise chart that measures how God-honoring our praise is:

1 praising God wholeheartedly < 2 praising God wholeheartedly
4 praising God halfheartedly = 2 praising God whole heartedly
1 person, 1 acoustic guitar > 3 people singing acappella

We are constantly worshiping, whether it’s God or ourselves – this is not an activity that stops and starts. As usual, when it comes to God, it’s about our hearts – not the specific actions. So why would God direct us to use instruments?
These psalms deal with corporate worship specifically, and are a call for our entire hearts to praise him. Instruments serve as tools to heighten, or energize, our singing. The psalmist is saying “Do you know God?!? Have you heard of his holiness, his love, his mercy? I want to shout, dance, sing and celebrate – He is amazing!!” Basically, it’s not as much a call based on God’s desire to hear us play an instrument, as it is a call to give God 100% of our heart. There’s something about singing – the emotions and energy we’re able to pour out, the ability for both unity and harmony, the resulting sounds created that are outside of our day-to-day speech. It’s a heightened form of communication. Add instruments, and it can go to another level; greater volume, more complex and beautiful melody, rhythm, greater depth. I’m not talking about 100 people singing vs. 100 people singing + an acoustic guitar. I’m talking about this vs. this. Not the best recording of “Higher Ground”, but hopefully you get the point. Again, at the root this is a heart issue, so I’m not comparing the worship of God in those two clips, but instead the affect instruments can have on music.

If we’re going to have a celebration, which God inspires, we should not hold back. Instruments and those gifted to play them are a gift to all. They can unify our songs, provide both a foundation and many layers, and are yet another way to express praise towards God.