November is the time when I realize every year, “Oh wait, the year is almost over. AGH!” Whether that means I frantically begin Christmas shopping or bask in the beauty of the life I have been given, November is the time I like to start looking back and thinking over the year. How did I grow? What was hard? What was wonderful? 

This year has been hard. But that doesn’t mean it hasn’t been good or beautiful. In fact, I think the hard years are the years in which we can more readily trace the faithfulness of God. 

I was blessed to attend a global missions conference this month. There are so many beautiful things that I could relay from that day, but I think the thing I’ll highlight is the singing. 

Have you ever heard nearly two thousand voices singing “Great is Thy Faithfulness” acapella? It is absolutely gorgeous. 

On the final morning of the conference, we were blessed to have Sandra McCracken lead our worship. 

I’ve been thinking about one of her rich, Scripture-based songs off and on for years now. 

“My Help, My God” is based off of Psalm 43, which is one of my favorites. It’s about having a cast-down soul and putting your hope in God as He shines His light upon you. And I just think that is really beautiful. That God shines His light upon us when we are struggling. And that we can sing of that. That we can sing, “Great is Thy Faithfulness” with the voices of an army of Christian believers, because He is faithful. 

Faithful in a way we can see, and hear, and taste. 

I’ve done a lot of singing this month. From the missions conference to church to hymn sings at church events to my own personal tendencies, it’s just been happening a lot. And that is a good thing, because it is a good thing to praise the Lord with our voices. That’s what I want to talk about this month. 

Colossians 3:16 reads, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God

What does it mean for the word of Christ to dwell in me richly? 

Ephesians 5:18-20 encourages a similar idea, saying, “be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,” 

I think that these passages are read well together. Perhaps there is a parallel between letting the word of Christ dwell in us richly and in being filled with the Spirit. God gave us Scripture to remind us of what He has done for us. He also gave us the Holy Spirit to convict us and grant us the desire for Him. 

 The direct method Paul gives both for letting the word of Christ dwell in us richly and for being filled with the Spirit is song. He instructs Christians to sing Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. 

 I don’t know if anyone else has noticed, but when you sing for an extended period of time, something inside of you wakes up. You can feel Him more easily. The words we sing when we praise God remind us of the gorgeous and incredibly desirable truths of God’s promises and of the gospel. 

 A quick note on Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Don’t let it slip past you that Paul includes all three of these. Psalms, like the song I mentioned by Sandra McCracken in the section above, are important. Hymns, the old poetry of the church, tested by time and loved by thousands, are important. Spiritual songs, which I take to mean praise music and modern worship songs, are important. They all tap into a different part of our hearts and minds, whether it’s the familiar words of Scripture, the magnificent poetry of hymns, or the passionate tones of spiritual songs. 

 Both passages, after they provide instruction for psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, mention thankfulness. I think this is because song results in thankfulness. We are to always be giving thanks in our hearts toward the God who saved us, and worship music is a vocal reminder of what we have to be thankful for! This is definitely something I will be keeping in mind as the Thanksgiving thankfulness questions approach. Praise God for song that grips our hearts. 

“The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” 2 Corinthians 13:14