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Singing
Brian Mashburn
December 21, 2014
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Bursting Forth In Song
By our culturally learned standards, in the era of nationally televised singing competitions that involve professional critique and mass populous voting on quality, I'm officially not a singer. But I sing. I must.
The first mention of a song sung is in Exodus 15. Moses was the worship leader, and all of God's people were in the assembly, and it burst forth from them because they had just crossed the Red Sea on dry ground and been rescued by God from slavery in Egypt.
Interestingly, the last mention of a song sung is in Revelation 15, and it is the same song! It was all of God's rescued people again, but this time from "the beast". They, too, "sang the song of Moses."
But it wasn't just the song of Moses they were singing. It says "they sang the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb." The rescue of the Israelites from slavery by Moses was a foreshadowing of the rescuing of all of us from slavery by Jesus. This is why the birth of Christ brings such joy, and Christmas brings so much song.
Let us use what Mary sang when she realized the rescue that was to come in Jesus' birth, as a guide for our singing today.
My daughter, Callie, is celebrating the birth of Jesus by being reborn today in baptism. She's pondered this a long time, but was holding out for a special word from God as to when, wanting her decision to be based not because she is "getting to that age," or because her friends have, or on expectations because she's a preacher's kid, but because God has called her personally. She asked God to speak in a way that only she and He would know it was Him, and He did, and I'm so grateful for her integrity, for His attentiveness, and for their relationship.
We should sing! He came for the whole world, but He also came for you.