Do we sing to be happy? Or do we sing because we are happy? The answer to these questions may be found in two very similar verses in Ephesians and Colossians. The first is, “Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Eph. 5:18-2018And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; 19Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; 20Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; (Ephesians 5:18‑20)). Here we have a melody in the heart that causes us to sing. It is the result of being filled with the Spirit which causes us to enjoy and communicate it to one another in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. It lifts up our hearts and voices to God and the Father in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the source of joy and praise.
Perhaps this message would be better conveyed by standing up and singing than in writing a paper on the subject, but that is not possible in a magazine. A hymn which illustrates singing “because we are happy” is #220 in the Little Flock Hymnbook:
“Our hearts are full of Christ, and long
Their glorious matter to declare!
Of Him we make our loftier song—
We cannot from His praise forbear:
Our ready tongues make haste to sing
The glories of the heavenly King.”
Charles Wesley
But we are not always filled with the Spirit, and the verse in Colossians 3:1616Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. (Colossians 3:16) has an application for us too. “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.” The word of Christ teaches and admonishes us to sing to the Lord. It is right to “sing to be happy.” Singing is the best way to lift up our hearts. Circumstances are not always conducive to happiness, but we can rise above them by allowing the word of Christ dwelling in us to teach and admonish us to sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. A sense of God’s grace to us will make us lift up our hearts to the Lord in thanksgiving and praise.
A hymn in the character of the verse in Colossians is Little Flock #196:
“Come let us sing the matchless worth,
And sweetly sound the glories forth
Which in the Savior shine:
To God and Christ our praises bring:
The song with which high heaven will ring,
‘Praises for grace divine.’”
Samuel Medley
As Christians we have every reason to sing, whether it is to be happy or because we are. We have the source and the means. “What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also: I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also” (1 Cor. 14:1515What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also: I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also. (1 Corinthians 14:15)). “Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms” (James 5:1313Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms. (James 5:13)). “That the Gentiles might glorify God for His mercy; as it is written, For this cause I will confess to Thee among the Gentiles, and sing unto Thy name. And again he saith, Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with His people. And again, Praise the Lord, all ye Gentiles; and laud Him, all ye people” (Rom. 15:9-119And that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy; as it is written, For this cause I will confess to thee among the Gentiles, and sing unto thy name. 10And again he saith, Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with his people. 11And again, Praise the Lord, all ye Gentiles; and laud him, all ye people. (Romans 15:9‑11)).
D. C. Buchanan