You’re not singing anymore

22nd February 2009

“Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise,” counsels James in the fifth chapter of his letter. There’s just something about being in good spirits that tends to draw a song from us. Whether it’s the often tuneless din of happy birthday sung with friends and family, or the (sometimes equally tuneless) performance of karaoke at a party. We just seem to love to sing.

But not always. When we’re not feeling like things are going our way, the happy songs of celebration often don’t come as easily, as this football chant amply illustrates...



Are you STILL singing?
Given this, I was stuck a few weeks ago, as I was preparing to lead worship, by the story of Paul and Silas in a prison cell in Acts 16. As Luke tells us, they were wrongly accused, stripped and beaten severely with rods, thrown into the most high security part of the prison and had their feet fastened in stocks. If ever there was an occasion not to be singing anymore, surely this was it.

But Luke then goes on to record three interesting facts in v25:

"About midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them."

Now I get why they prayed. How many of us have found ourselves in a tight spot, only to be driven to God in prayer. ‘Save me, God! Get me out of here! I need you!’ But why does Luke record the fact that they sang? And why tell us that the other prisoners were listening in?

Singing truths shapes us
Despite everything that they’d just been through, and when people surely would have understood if they were feeling a bit down in the mouth, they sang hymns. What was going on?

To answer this question, I think we have to consider something of the purpose of singing in the life of Christians. As Paul teaches the Colossian church, we are to ‘let the word of Christ dwell in (us) richly … as (we) sing)’ (Col 3:16). The act of singing hymns takes the truths about God expressed in them, truths that are deep and rich enough to shape and form our lives, and it combines those truths with the God-given emotional power of music. It’s the combination of great words matched with a stirring tune that can help us reflect and meditate deeply on just who our God is and his power for us in each circumstance in which we find ourselves. And in turn, our values and perspective can be shaped by these truths as we sing.

As Paul and Silas sang these hymns, they were reminding themselves and each other of who God is and what he has done. These rock solid truths that were bigger than the circumstances because they were about a God who is sovereign over all circumstances.

What of us? How easily is our song robbed from us? How quickly do we find that ‘We’re not singing anymore?’ May God inspire us readily to song. And as we sing, may we become increasingly fixated on the God who reigns and who directs our lives in love for his glory.

Next time, we’ll consider briefly how Paul's letter to the Philippians backed up in theory what he demonstrated in practice in the Philippian prison.

Alistair Hamill


I know I shared this video a number of blogs back, but I really want to include it here again. We sang this song on the Sunday morning when I shared these thoughts. It just seems appropriate to have it here now along with this powerful story of God's faithfulness



If you like this song, you may want to check out one of my previous blogs where I share a bit more about Laura and her story.