Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions; your robes are all fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia. From ivory palaces stringed instruments make you glad...

   - Psalm 45.6, 8

There are many delightful songs, without flaw, in the great plain of the starry heaven, many pleasant tunes, many strains of music, which no reckoning or description can convey.

   - Saltair na Rann, Irish, 9th-10th century

Simply put, Jesus likes music.

Even now, as He reigns on His exalted throne, He has music piping through the throne room of glory, “many pleasant tunes” and doubtless “without flaw.”

That’s not to say that if we don’t have perfect pitch we should leave the singing to others. We are all commanded to sing new songs to the Lord, to make a joyful noise to Him with songs of praise and celebration.

Singing is a spiritual discipline much neglected by believers. We’re great at listening to music on MP3s, CDs or while we’re in the car, but we don’t do much singing. Well, not only is that our loss, since singing exercises so many thoughts and affections in a God-ward direction; it’s also simply disobedient. How will we justify to the Lord Jesus, Who is glad with music and commands us to sing praises to Him, the fact that we only sing when we’re in church, and then not very robustly?

I know I complain about this with some regularity. But why should we not sing? After all, we are heirs and possessors of great Good News, of the Kingdom of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. We daily travel within the orbit of the sovereign God, and see His glory, steadfast love, and faithfulness on every hand. We are the beneficiaries of a great salvation and co-heirs with an eternal King. Here, indeed, are many blessings! What hinders us from singing with joy to the Lord?

Celtic Christians sang every day to the Lord, intoning psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs as an exercise of grateful, obedient love to Jesus and spiritual reinforcement for themselves and one another. Indeed, singing like this is one of the evidences of the Spirit’s filling (Eph. 5.18ff).

Steve Martin used to do a shtick in which he imagined every American owning a banjo, and every evening going out on his porch to strum a few bars. And every evening, all the people in Canada would perk up their ears, incline southward, and say, “Eh?”

Would something like this happen among our unsaved neighbors, friends, and associates if, everywhere they turned, believers were making Jesus glad with singing?

When we’re truly glad in the Lord, we will sing glad songs to Him.

Psalm 97.1, 7-9 (Duke Street: “Come, Let Us Sing unto the Lord”)
Come, let us sing unto the Lord new songs of praise with one accord!
Wonderful things our God has done: Jesus has our salvation won!

Now let the whole creation ‘round burst into song with joyous sound!
Jesus will come to judge the earth; let all proclaim His matchless worth!

Lord, as the trees and birds and all creation sing Your praise and glory throughout the day, teach me to sing for Your pleasure as well. Adapted from In Tenga Bithnua