A church’s music sets the tone, the ethos, the atmosphere for the church. When we ask, “What should we sing?” we’re asking what kind of church we want to become, what kind of people we want to be. Our souls are tuned by the music we sing.

When we sing Psalms, our souls are tuned to truth. We learn not to pretend to God. We learn not to act like everything is OK when it isn’t. 

We learn God can handle our anger, our dismay, our frustration. There’s no cheap praise in the Psalms.

We’re tuned to be truthful about the world. We learn suffering is inescapable. But we also become bold because we know it’s God’s world and He will triumph: “The Lord is the defender of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” (Psa 27). 

Psalms are war songs that turn us into warriors: He trains my hands for war and my fingers for battle (Psa 144). The Psalms tune our souls to victory: “He subdues peoples under us, and nations under our feet” (Psa 47).

We also sing Psalms so we can know Jesus and become like Him. Jesus told His disciples the Psalms speak of Him. 

No Old Testament book is quoted more often in the New than Psalms. The apostles preached and taught Jesus by preaching and teaching Psalms.

But the Psalms aren’t just information about Jesus. They are His words. They’re the words of David, and He’s the greater David. 

When we sing Psalms, we’re taking on the role of Jesus, we follow in His footsteps, singing ourselves as members of His body.

We want to be and live like Jesus. We want that above all. We want Christ to be born in us and among us. We’re tuned by what we sing, and we want to be attuned to Him. 

Singing His songs, we live His sorrow, His joy, His outrage at evil, His cry of despair on the cross. As we sing, our lives, our suffering and our glory, becomes harmony on His life, His suffering and His glory.

Blessings,
Pastor Leithart