It is interesting what comes to our minds as we read the Bible and how different thoughts and convictions hit us today I read these verse in the midst of my devotional time,

“O send out Your light and Your truth, let them lead me;
Let them bring me to Your holy hill
And to Your dwelling places.
4 Then I will go to the altar of God,
To God my exceeding joy;
And upon the lyre I shall praise You, O God, my God.” -Psalm 43:3, 4

And my heart began to praise God that He has given us music as an expression of response to Him, His truth, His light, His love! The Psalms of course are a collection of songs, so of course David would use song often to respond to the Lord, but throughout the Bible a natural and God given response to the moving of the Divine is through song. Consider this moment from the New Testament,

“After singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.” -Matthew 26:30

This text follows the story of the Last Supper–what we call Communion–at the end of this gathering, this time with Jesus…they sang a song. To the secular mind that is completely random and weird, but to the believer it should be one of the most natural components of our relationship with Jesus.

Which is one of the reasons why I find it so sad that so many people show-up to church after the music has finished and leave before the music resumes. Why would people rob themselves of this gift, this natural spiritual gift of expression God has given to His children. David said in response to the light of the Lord and the truth of the Lord he would go to the altar (the church) of God and celebrate with music.

Maybe this struck me this morning in a special way because when I woke at sunrise today my heart was anxious for the presence of God and the reminder of His love and so I stuck in my headphones and listened to the following song,