The Formidable Power of Music and Song

Music is designed to elicit a response. Song is intended to inspire – to cause emotion to well up inside of us and then manifest in our actions. When we open ourselves to music, we have no choice but to respond. This is why generations are shaped by it, armies march to it, advertisers license it, nations have anthems, and colleges have fight songs instead of fight poems: because music – particularly song – has power. Power to inspire, invoke, and incite.

I believe that God created music for that purpose. The Bible gives us some tantalizing glimpses of angels singing around the throne of God, praising Him and worshiping Him, and the implication is that they have always done so and will always do so. Perhaps these were the first songs. Unless of course God sung to Himself in the void, which He may well have done. The original purpose of song was and is to worship the Creator – and to inspire action that also worships Him.

This is why we worship together as a body, first and foremost to worship God and bring Him praise in His house, but also to galvanize and unify, and to stir our souls individually and collectively to action: Kingdom-impacting, life-changing action. Worship music is the march for Christian soldiers, the anthem for a Holy nation, the fight song for our true alma mater.

Music's nature is to inspire action, and you can no more separate music from it's nature than you could make an apple tree produce carrots or get an alligator to become a vegetarian. We like to think that we can. In fact, we are notorious for trying to separate a number of activities from the nature that God designed them to have in order to accommodate our self-serving uses for these activities. Scripture tells us clearly that sex is designed to permanently unite a man and woman together in marriage for their entire lives, both physically and spiritually. But we try to deny the nature of sex to accommodate our desire for sex outside of marriage or with multiple partners, or perhaps with a partner of the same sex. And of course damage occurs, just as it would if you forced apart any other two things bonded by a permanent adhesive. We do the same with our money. God created the very idea of money so that we could honor Him with our tithes in obedience and use the other resources He gives us to help others. But the world says we can do what we want with our money. After all, we earned it, right? Even the Church likes to ignore passages about truly tithing 10% (see Malachi, chapter 3), and instead likes to focus on verses about giving cheerfully (2 Corinthians 9:7). I presume this is so we don't upset the average American, church-goer who gives around 2.5% to the church.

And we do the same with music. We try to tell ourselves we can separate music from the power that is it's nature: “Oh, it's just a song,” we'll say. “What's the big deal?” The big deal is that song is designed to and has the power to inspire and incite action according to it's subject. When we give ourselves over to music, there is an emotional reaction that can and does lead to physical action and guides conscious decision. It is for this reason that I as a parent am so sensitive to what music my daughter is listening to. Show me a teenager that isn't in to their music! Now pick a song randomly from the current U.S. Top 40 list (at the time of this writing, The #1 song is Katy Perry's “California Girls,” and #2 is Eminem's “Love the Way You Lie.” Lovely.), analyze the lyrics in light of the innate power of song we've been discussing, and then tell me if that doesn't concern you just a little!

Now before you all start comparing me to John Lithgow's character in Footloose, allow me to clarify: I am not against secular music. Far from it. I love all types of music from blues to metal, classical to rock, pop to soul. Many – probably most – of my favorite artists are secular artists. I love to dance, and I even think that the youthful, angst-ridden irreverence of rock and roll and the sensual side of popular music can be positive – or at least harmless – forces in the right context.

We'd miss out on a ton of God-given talent if we abstained from secular music, and we'd also miss out on what I believe is our best opportunity to hear about what is on the heart and mind of a fallen, hurting world that desperately needs a Savior. Our society's cries for help are heard most clearly in its songs, and listening can provide astonishing insights that can help us understand our youth and guide our prayer and ministry.

But as God has continued to teach me about his ultimate design for music and song, I've become much more discriminating about what I listen to, and I try to be honest with myself about the lyrical content and whether or not it is something I should be putting in to my head. Philippians 4:8 provides a checklist of the types of things we should be thinking about. Things that are noble, right, true, praiseworthy, pure, lovely, admirable. I can help ensure that my thoughts rise to these standards by listening to music that does likewise. And what could be more lovely, noble, or praiseworthy than our God?

So I would encourage us all to acknowledge the power of song, and use it wisely. Inspire yourself, and others. Fill your mind with noble things. And please teach your kids to do likewise. It's a little disconcerting when your 5 yo daughter, who usually walks around belting out Francesca Batistelli's “Beautiful, Beautiful”, all of a sudden (after spending a week with her cousins) starts singing “...shorty is a eenie meenie miney mo lovah...” ;)