Verse of the Day 6/29
Psalm 146:1-2 Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord, O my soul!
2 I will praise the Lord as long as I live;
I will sing praises to my God while I have my being. English Standard Version (ESV)
The songs and hymns that we sing in church should be taken seriously and with consideration. We should think of the words and the intent of the person who wrote them and put them to music. Quite often in the churches that I've attended over the years we would sing "the first and third stanzas" or another combination and omit some of the stanzas. This was done for the sake of time, to fit the song into the schedule, not to "run late" with the service. I have done the same thing in these posts, often copying and pasting portions of hymns.
I read the following quote by A.W. Tozer. and it dealt with this subject matter and opened my eyes to an important matter. He writes, "I suppose it is not of vast importance that the third stanza is so often omitted in the singing of a hymn, but just for the record let it be said that the worshipers are deprived of the blessing of the hymn by that omission if, as is often true, the hymn develops a great Christian truth in sermonic outline. To omit a stanza is to lose one link in a golden chain and greatly to reduce the value of the whole hymn."
We don't need to fall into legalism considering the stanzas of songs, but we should consider carefully what the writers intent was, and not to miss some important point in our (or my) editing. I'll close with an old hymn about praise. As you go through it, see if there is a particular stanza that draws your attention and perhaps makes you want to sing out loud. What would have happened if I had "edited" it out?
| 1 | Praise the Savior, ye who know Him! Who can tell how much we owe Him? Gladly let us render to Him All we are and have. |
| 2 | Jesus is the name that charms us; He for conflicts fits and arms us; Nothing moves and nothing harms us When we trust in Him. |
| 3 | Trust in Him, ye saints, forever; He is faithful, changing never; Neither force nor guile can sever Those He loves from Him. |
| 4 | Keep us, Lord, oh, keep us cleaving To Thyself and still believing, Till the hour of Thy receiving The victorious Bride. |
| 5 | Then we shall be where we would be; Then we shall be what we should be; Things which are not now, nor could be, Then shall be our own. |
As we worship this weekend, may we do so with a heart of praise; "put your hope in God and know real blessing!" (from Psalm 146 The Message)
-- In Christ, Mike Folllow the Verse of the Day blog at http://mikesvotd.blogspot.com Ephesians 1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace. NIV
Psalm 146 The Message (MSG)
146 1-2 Hallelujah!
O my soul, praise God!
All my life long I'll praise God,
singing songs to my God as long as I live.
3-9 Don't put your life in the hands of experts
who know nothing of life, of salvation life.
Mere humans don't have what it takes;
when they die, their projects die with them.
Instead, get help from the God of Jacob,
put your hope in God and know real blessing!
God made sky and soil,
sea and all the fish in it.
He always does what he says—
he defends the wronged,
he feeds the hungry.
God frees prisoners—
he gives sight to the blind,
he lifts up the fallen.
God loves good people, protects strangers,
takes the side of orphans and widows,
but makes short work of the wicked.
10 God's in charge—always.
Zion's God is God for good!
Hallelujah!
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