To Sing or Not to Sing WHY is the Qusetion?

Hey guys it is me here Pastor Case with something that has been on my mind latly. You know as well as I do that singing is a huge part of my life and most everyone's. This brings me to my first passage of scripture, Psalm 33.Psalm 33

1 Sing joyfully to the LORD, you righteous;
it is fitting for the upright to praise him.
2 Praise the LORD with the harp;
make music to him on the ten-stringed lyre.
3 Sing to him a new song;
play skillfully, and shout for joy.
4 For the word of the LORD is right and true;
he is faithful in all he does.
5 The LORD loves righteousness and justice;
the earth is full of his unfailing love.

When we look here at the Psalm it tells us that we should not only sing, but sing joyfully. So many times I look around at my own church and when we are singing a hymn or even a praise song and the look on most people's faces just looks like they can't wait till they get to sit back down. The mouths are moving, but the joy element is missing. One thing that I can't help but think about when I talk about this is the people ask themselves what if I mess up or do something wrong or any other thing that makes me look bad or stupid, and the point that I would like to make to that is that I would rather look stupid to other people and be praising my Father then look like everyone else and depriving my God of the parise taht he deserves. I think that another thing that causes this is the fact that people don't really understand exactly what God sent his son to do for us. He DIED folks and do you know WHY?!? FOR US, ALL OF US!! Just take a moment and let that sink in. This brings me to my second point, we have to look at who we are singing to. In the Psalm once again we see that we are singing to our LORD, we are not just riding in the car singing along with the back street boys, notice there was no capitalzation because they are of no importance at least not on the scale of which I am concerned with addressing right now. The word of God has given us an instruction and we should follow it if for none other reason than that, but the real reason that we should follow it should be because we can not help but want to sing out to God. When you look at verse to it tells us to not only use our voices, but to also use instruments to praise God the Father. What this says to me is that we should use our whole being not just one part of it. When you think about going to the movies or hearing a band play it just isn't the same if the movie has no words and the band has no drummer, it just takes away from what could be. This is one of that I think troubles the Church today. I think it happens a lot through the aspect of music or at least that is the way I feel about it at my church. Then when you look at verse three in Psalm 33 it says to sing to him a new song and to play skillfully and then what does it say...it says to shout for joy to the LORD. When was the last time you were in church and you heard someone shout out for joy to the LORD and the preacher doesn't count. I bet for the most of us we never get past a quiet amen if we ever get that. This brings me to my last topic for this blog (just hang in there it is almost over). This is the big question WHY should we or do we praise God through song and also other aspect of our life? Well I stated above that he Died fo US, but if thats not enough then maybe this will help. Psalm 139
1 O LORD, you have searched me
and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before a word is on my tongue
you know it completely, O LORD.
5 You hem me in—behind and before;
you have laid your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.
7 Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, [a] you are there.
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
11 If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,"
12 even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.
13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
All you have to do is read this and ponder it and you will see that he is God the one and the only. For he says that you know everything about me when I rise and when I sit. He knows all and as verse 6 says this knowledge is to high up to lofty for me to attain, you know WHY, because he is GOD and we are not. For this reason we should SING!!