The Spiritual Discipline of Singing

Habakkuk 3:2, 16-19

Lord, I have heard of your fame;

    I stand in awe of your deeds, Lord.

Repeat them in our day,

    in our time make them known;

    in wrath remember mercy.

I heard and my heart pounded,

    my lips quivered at the sound;

decay crept into my bones,

    and my legs trembled.

Yet I will wait patiently for the day of calamity

    to come on the nation invading us.

Though the fig tree does not bud

    and there are no grapes on the vines,

though the olive crop fails

    and the fields produce no food,

though there are no sheep in the pen

    and no cattle in the stalls,

yet I will rejoice in the Lord,

    I will be joyful in God my Savior.

The Sovereign Lord is my strength;

    he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,

    he enables me to tread on the heights.

The third chapter of Habakkuk is often referred to as Habbkkuk’s prayer, but the notes at the beginning and end suggest it was meant to be sung.  In any case, it is a response to God’s answer to Habakkuk’s questions concerning the suffering of the people of Israel.  He asked why God hadn’t acted to remove the corrupt leaders and God said that Babylon will take care of that.  Habakkuk’s follow-up question was why the Babylonians?  They’re even worse.  God responds that the Babylonians will also fall because of their injustice.  God ends by saying that his people need to trust God and be patient. 

The song Habakkuk sings proclaims that they will do just that – they will wait for God’s promise to be kept with faith.  I think that it’s really important that Habakkuk writes this as a song.  Singing has a unique power apart from simple speech.  I can know something is true but singing that truth helps me to experience that truth.  To take our example from Habakkuk 3, I know that I need to be patient and trust God.  But singing it leads me into actual patience and trust. 

I learned this early in my ministry that started 25 years ago.  I am a thinker to a fault.  I am one of those people who gets “stuck in my head.”  I discovered that singing is an antidote for that.   So in my quiet time each morning, I always have a time of singing.  This all happens while everyone is still sleeping in my house so I actually don’t make any noise, but I mouth the words as I hear the music in my headphones and almost every time, my stream of thoughts fall away and I experience the power of the words.  This is the reason I include a link to a song each day.  Not until this very moment did I count singing as a spiritual discipline, but it most definitely is.  I thank Habakkuk for helping me to see that.

Prayer:  God help us to more than know your truth.  May we feel the truth deep in our bones.  Amen.

Prayer Focus:  Pray for our national and state leaders with all the weighty matters facing them right now.

Song: Hymn of Faith –  Habakkuk 3:17-19 – Kelsey J

Note:  This link was designed to start in the middle of the video on purpose.  She does a long rambling intro that I wanted to skip. 

We will continue our survey on the prophets after the new year, but tomorrow, we will begin a Christmas series that focuses on Christmas hymns.  See you then!