A Joyful Noise

Psalm 95: 1-3.

O come, let us sing unto the LORD: let us make a joyful noise to the Rock of our salvation.

Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto Him with psalms.

For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods.

If you grew up as I did, attending Sunday school and church, perhaps you remember singing this:

That, my friends, is “making a joyful noise”!

Then we would go to the main auditorium, and the first song we’d sing, with grand piano and organ accompaniment, was this:

Both songs are equally joyful; one informal, one formal, both deeply meaningful. Such was my early experience with church music. Along with it, my parents had recordings of the Blackwood Brothers Quartet with Rudy Atwood at the piano:

Listening to this kind of music attuned me to the piano. I longed to be able to play like Rudy Atwood 🙂 I’ve never come close to his ability, but I did learn to play and have been influenced by him and many other outstanding pianists.

How thankful I am for good, God-honoring music!

A Joyful Noise

Psalm 66:1-2.

Make a joyful noise unto God, all ye lands:

Sing forth the honour of His Name: make His praise glorious.

My husband loves this verse. He loves music, but he can’t sing. He does okay if I sing the melody with him, but the minute I start to harmonize, he’s lost. So he claims this verse as his own, and goes ahead and makes his joyful noise 🙂

I love it, too. Music is my favorite form of praise. I’m so thankful that God is a musical Being, and that He shares the music with us. I look forward SO much to hearing God sing! Can’t even begin to imagine what that will sound like!

Music is important in the Bible. There are 150 songs in the Book of Psalms, some short, a few quite long. Since it is Hebrew, I imagine the original melodies were often in a minor key, rich in beauty and harmony.

I like to imagine the thousands of voices raised in song in a large synagogue.

Since I was just a little girl, I have been thrilled with church music done well, with joy and energy. I still love it today. It is very sad to me that my voice has grown old right along with the rest of me, and I can no longer hold my own vocally. Every now and then my voice is good for a little while, but it doesn’t last.

But I can still make my own joyful noise to the Lord 🙂