"Upon an instrument of ten strings, and upon the psaltery; upon the harp with a solemn sound." Psalm 92:3
Mankind has always been fascinated by music. Oftentimes we forget that just as our flesh likes music a certain way, God wants his music to be in a certain manner as well. The above-quoted verse shows us exactly what God wants his music to sound like: solemn. Synonyms for the word solemn include words like: austere, grave, intense, pensive, sober, weighty, formal. Since 'solemn' is a Bible word, lets go back and see where the word is first mentioned.
"And the famine was sore in the land. And it came to pass, when they had eaten up the corn which they had brought out of Egypt, their father said unto them, Go again, buy us a little food. And Judah spake unto him, saying, The man did solemnly protest unto us, saying, Ye shall not see my face, except your brother be with you." Genesis 43:1-3.
Now if you are a well-versed Bible reader, you know just how stern and strict Joseph was with his brethren. Joseph's gravity got so intense that after his brethren found out that the silver cup was in Benjamin's sack that they rent their garments, and Judah repeatedly pleaded with Joseph calling him lord six times within the chapter (Genesis 44). That being said, there is a specific phrase that I want to elaborate on that is used in the same breath when the word 'solemn' is mentioned for the very first time. That phrase is "Ye shall not." This is an imperative statement, meaning that it is issuing a command. Interestingly, the first authority figure in the Bible to use this exact same imperative is God himself.
"But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." Genesis 2:17
Don't get confused. Remember that 'thou' is the singular form of the word 'ye'. Same meaning, just different number. Now ask yourself this question, just how weighty is was when Adam and Eve disobeyed the commandment of God. It cost all of humanity. It cost the blood of Christ. Is this not intense? Is this not solemn? A good biblical definition for the word solemn would be 'something to be taken seriously; formal'.
This lets us see just how the solemn assemblies in the Bible were esteemed. If we were to look at some of the assemblies within the reign of the kings, we'd see just how much godly fear and rejoicing there was. When King Solomon had finished dedicating the Temple and the Lord answered by fire, the scripture says that the people "....bowed themselves with their faces to the ground upon the pavement, and worshipped, and praised the Lord, saying, For he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever." 2 Chronicles 7:3. And in the proceeding verses we see the King and the people offering an astounding amount of sacrifices to the Lord. King Solomon offered 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep. That's a total of 142,000 hooves for the Lord, plus what the people offered. This clearly displays just how serious their assemblies were; they were willing to give their livelihood to please the Lord as they rejoiced with trembling. There was great weight and matter in their service to God.
Now that we see how the congregation in the Bible was, lets compare it to what we see today. Would you describe the average non-denominational, evangelical, or even baptist church as 'solemn'? Or would you describe it as 'provocative', 'informal', or 'trivial'? I would say the latter. Please understand that the Good Lord wants us to dance with the joy of the Lord as David did, but do it with trembling. That means one would not dare dane provocatively before a church as we see in many charismatic and Pentecostal churches. The speaking of gibberish,running around, barking like a dog, and constant sobbing makes their assemblies look trivial and momentary. There is nothing formal about acting like a monkey in church. If we apply this concept to dance and motion, we can apply it to song and music.
Ask yourself this question in all common sense, what solemnity is there in 'Our God is an Awesome God'? What fear of God is there in songwriters and bands like 'Mercy Me', 'Casting Crowns', Kirk Franklin, Lecrae, or TobyMac as they blatantly defy the commandment of God found in Romans 12:1-2 to "be not conformed to this world". We all speak English here. We know that the definition for the word conform is 'to be or become similar in form, nature, or character; to pattern after. 'How can one say, "I love God through music" as his music transgresses the commandment of God?
God commands us to sing praises with understanding (Psalm 47:7). What did you learn about God after listening to TobyMac? What new verse came to your mind after you heard those bars from Lecrae? After you have repeated 'Our God is an awesome God' for the hundredth time, do you finally understand the lesson of the song now. Nope, probably not, sing it again.
The sound of the music we sing should be solemn. The content of the songs we sing must be scriptural. The heart we should have when singing should be fear towards God; for the song and music ought to be directing your heart and mind to God, not at the magical voice of the artist.
In the Old Testament, the priests sung in courses to God night and day (1 Chronicles 9:33). The singing in the temple was collective, not selective. The priests didn't take turns singing specials. I promise you that when we get to heaven we will never see an angel step out of chorus to try and bedazzle the saints with his lovely voice. Why? Because the intention must match the direction.
Believe me, the church special is well intended, but what is the direction of the music? Is everyone thinking, or are they listening? Reflecting on God isn't taking place as the artist steps up to over-sing and ruin a hymn with the intention of wowing everyone with their talent. Countless celebrities such as John Legend, Whitney Houston, Usher, and Katy Perry all started out singing in church. What do you think could have prevented their major downfall? If they sat down in with the rest of the congregation and all sung in harmony with their hearts to the Lord, or if they would occasionally get up and please the ears of their fellow church-goers?
Don't make the mistake of assuming that these people used to sing for God and now they sing for millennials. The truth is that they never sung for God, they sung for the approval of man. They sung to hear that "that really touched me", after the service. Or the blatant, "you have an amazing gift." Their efforts in rehearsal may be intended for the church but not directed to its God. What happens is that people start to covet vainglory. They are so used to people extolling them that they get mad when someone else is asked to sing the special instead of them. They become competitive and their prize is self-glory.
The opposition to this thesis may say that "when the people came to the temple, or were present at the assemblies, they would marvel at the harmonious melody coming from the priests". This assumption is greatly misguided because it assumes that the priests were singing to please men. Remember that the priests would sing day and night, regardless of whether or not people were there or not. This disproves the assumption that their singing was geared toward the tickling of ears. The singing was done for the glory of God, not for performance.
I briefly touched on this earlier, but oversinging is the leaven that is in so many churches today. If you've heard Whitney Houston before you know exactly what I'm talking about. Oversinging is when the singer sings too much. They stress words in a song that shouldn't be stressed and even strain their voice beyond their normal range. Oversinging is attempted by singers on American Idol to impress judges. It often looks stupid, but some people pull it off. The point of oversinging is to impress. It is to bedazzle the ears with 'talent'. If you've seen Sunday's Best, you've probably felt the same disgust I have. There is nothing solemn about this phenomena. Oversinging is competitive and comparative by nature. It is used to 'get ahead' in competitions and 'sound like' our favorite artists.
Isn't it strange that something that brings glory to self would be prevalent in churches today? Isn't the whole point of singing psalms and hymns to bring glory to God? The true praisers of God don't want to be put on stage, they want God to be there in their hearts. If you've read the Bible you know that God puts more emphasis on the lyrics of the song than the music or melody of the song. How? He preserved the words, not the sheet music. On the contrary, the music or melody is overemphasized in many churches and secular listeners so much that the words are disregarded. Why do you think we as Christians often catch ourselves singing worldly songs from the past? It isn't the dirty lyrics that hooks us, it's the beat and the awesome guitar solo. People want to hear that amazing voice instead of "Amazing Grace".
The very fact that it's called a "Church Special" should send a red flag. What's so special about you singing to God. Arn't we all commanded to sing? Is God pleased with your voice over mine? Yet this mentality was contrived from the principle of oversinging: to bewilder the listeners. If our emphasis was on being filled with the Holy Spirit, we would sing music that emphasizes the word of God-doctrine over the music. Music is important to God. He lists to us the instruments he wants us to used in Psalm 150 (Hmm...drums aren't here). God wants to hear a lovely sound, but he also wants a fearful, lovely heart towards him.
Throughout America instead of finding the old-fashioned austere, grave, but glad atmosphere in churches, the pleasure-seeking and provocative is usually the ambience. This is evidenced by a rise of people going to church to 'feel good', or to 'get that load off their chest' instead of being biblically edified and exhorted by believers. God commands us to sing, the special commands us to listen. We want to please our appetites then be told that they are wrong when the song is over and the preaching begins. This hypocrisy is destroying us. We are not putting difference between the holy and the profane. What is happening today is exactly what had happened to ancient Israel and Judah: truth is become relative; the proud are called happy; and sentimental is considered spiritual.
