I will sing to the Lord as long as I live;
I will sing praise to my God while I have being. Psalm 104:33 (ESV)
I love to sing. I always have. In fact, I’m pretty sure that loving to sing is a requirement to be a part of my family. I tell people that when we get together, our two pastimes are eating and singing.
There is always lots of laughter and music.
That good feeling that I associate with singing has never left me. As I grew up, I started singing in the church choir, at school, and even went on to study music education.
However, it wasn’t until I was in college that I found my favorite venue. Helping to lead church worship music is pretty much my favorite place to be. Even if I am sick and miserable, when I start to worship, peace comes over me and I can feel the presence of the Lord.
As I read this verse in Psalms, I was struck by the words “I will.” You see, even though worshiping through song is my jam, I don’t always feel like singing before I actually start doing it. It takes an act of my will to sing.
When I am coughing until I can’t breathe or really sad or have a migraine, I don’t feel like singing praises. I feel like laying down and covering my head with a blanket and feeling sorry for myself.
Nevertheless, I will sing.
I will exercise my will to choose to sing even when I don’t feel like it.
There are two main reasons I do this:
#1. God is always worthy of my praise, whether I feel like it or not. While I am alive, I choose to sing His praise because of Who He is not because of how I feel.
#2. I know that God honors it when I choose to worship even when I am not feeling it. I feel better almost as soon as I start singing to Him.
I am thankful for the music that stirs my emotions to glorify the God of creation. He created my voice. He designed song itself.
Action Step: Sing! Even if you don’t like how your voice sounds, God loves the praises of His people. He is always worthy of them! Give it a try and sing, especially when you don’t feel like it.
Dear God, you are worthy of our praises. Worthy of our song. Help me to make the choice to sing to you even when I don’t feel like it. I WILL sing to You all my life. I will praise You! In Jesus’ name, amen.