The Power of Music

You probably know that I love music.  I listen to a little of the newer music, but the music I really like is the music I grew up with, the music of the ‘70s.  I suspect that’s true of most of us--our favorite music tends to be the music we grew up with.

The funny thing is, I can hear a song from that era that I haven’t heard in years, and I can still sing along with it.  I still know all the words.  It may have been years since I even thought about that song, and yet it still stuck with me.

Maybe you’re that way, too.  Music does that to us.  Music sticks with us in a way that nothing else does.  I don’t remember a bit of the calculus that I took in the ‘70s, stuff that I actually studied, but I still remember the words to the songs even though I don’t remember studying them at all.

The thing is, there’s nothing new about that.  It’s a part of human nature.  Remember last week, when I mentioned I was reading the book of Deuteronomy?  There was something else in there that struck me about that book that I thought I would share with you.

Deuteronomy Chapter 32 is mostly a song that Moses sang.  It’s a song of praise to God, but it’s also a warning.  It’s a warning to stay faithful to God, and a statement of what’s going to happen to them if they don’t.  

But here’s what’s interesting to me about it.  Before Moses sings the song, God says this to him:  

Now write down this song and teach it to the Israelites and have them sing it, so that it may be a witness for me against them.  When I have brought them into the land flowing with milk and honey, the land I promised on oath to their ancestors, and when they eat their fill and thrive, they will turn to other gods and worship them, rejecting me and breaking my covenant.  And when many disasters and calamities come on them, this song will testify against them, because it will not be forgotten by their descendants. I know what they are disposed to do, even before I bring them into the land I promised them on oath.”  So Moses wrote down this song that day and taught it to the Israelites.

God knew the people were going to forget what He had said.  God knew the people were

going to forget the commandments.  They were going to forget all the things God had done for them.  They were going to forget their own history.  But they would not forget the song.  They would not forget the song Moses had taught them.  They would not forget the words of God contained in that song.  That song would stick with them, even if they forgot everything else.

That’s why it’s important that we learn some Christian music.  I don’t care whether it’s old, traditional hymns, gospel bluegrass songs, contemporary Christian music, or something else.  We need that Christian music.  We need it to become a part of us.  Because if it does, we’ll remember it.  We’ll remember it long after we’ve forgotten everything else.

It’s good to read the Bible.  It’s good to study the Bible.  It’s good to try to memorize some verses.  But if we know “Amazing Grace” or “Jesus Loves Me” or “What a Friend We Have in Jesus”, those words will stick with us long after we’ve forgotten part of the Twenty-third Psalm or the Ten Commandments.  And we’ll know the love and grace of Jesus.  Not only will we know it, we’ll feel it.  We’ll feel that love and grace of Jesus even if we’ve forgotten everything else.

So find a way to listen to some Christian music.  Sing along with it.  Make it part of you.  You’ll strengthen your faith.  And you’ll probably really enjoy it, too.