Fun songs, touching songs, all hit the feels and can make us momentarily happy. I’ve got quite the repertoire of songs that do that for me. But remember, we’re looking for lasting joy rather than just happy. Music gives us focus on one thing or another: could be love, the past (good or bad), having a good time, exhilaration, or wonder. Many songs connect us to the past because they can be associated with certain memories or a general sense of nostalgia of a bygone era.
Studies show that even plants benefit from the vibrations formed in rhythmic tones. Similarly, one doesn’t need to venture very far beyond YouTube to find videos of music affecting animals in a heartwarming way. It makes sense given that the same Creator designed us all – music is one of His Divine Fingerprints!
Not only does music affect plants and animals in positive ways, humans are especially benefitted by it. In fact, we’re wired for it! Research shows the benefits in bodily healing and mood. It has known softening effects for anxiety and depression, can increase pain tolerance, induces creativity and focus, and can even benefit dementia or Alzheimer’s patients when they listen to music from their youth. Their eyes light up, they smile, and some even remember the words to the songs, even when they haven’t spoken for weeks. I saw one video of a professional ballerina who was much later in her life inflicted with Alzheimer’s. They put headphones on her and played a piece from her favorite ballet she performed in as a young person. She couldn’t move her legs, but in her face, you could see recognition; her arms still remembered the movements she made to the music decades before.
Music as a conception is present in every human culture, in every time period, across the entire globe. Only the different types of sounds, instruments, and rhythms are based on culture. But there is one genre of music that is present in all cultures all over the world: the lullaby. Songs that are played, sung, or hummed for the very young all have the same high pitch, slow tempo, and warmer vocal tone. I can remember singing to my boys when they were in utero, and their activity would become calm and restful. Later, when I’d rock them back to sleep in the wee hours of the morning, I’d softly hum those same songs, and they’d drift quietly into their slumber. Further studies show that babies both in utero and newborn (because they are the same person) have visible, understandable, and favorable reactions to music.
So even from the very beginning, music has a deep connection with the human psyche and emotions. It’s the reason we can hear any classical music (read: no lyrics) and subconsciously decipher the journey on which the composer is taking us: one of relaxed, serene peace and beauty, or one of danger, adventure, or fear. Or any other wild Ride in between! (Looking at you, Wagner.)
The point is music seems to be intrinsic to us all; it is a universal language that even the unborn can understand.
How does music with lyrics affect our thinking and our attitude? When we add language to the lilt, we’re adding a whole other element of complex meaning to the song. And what that meaning is matters.
When I was 22 years old, I made a bold move (in my eyes anyway) by taking a job in Houston while going to school – about a 4-hour drive from home. One beautiful Sunday, on my way back to Houston from visiting my parents, I found myself sailing through the vast space of flatland and cows outside of Victoria, Texas. I’m quite sure the word “panorama” was coined for this particular place, because you can see the horizon from a panoramic eye level for-what-seems-like-ever.
I was so far out in the middle of nowhere that I couldn’t pick up any more than two radio stations at a time. Since I don’t speak Spanish, my choice in entertainment for the moment was chosen for me…by Divine design.
The song that was on that station did catch my attention.
At first, it reminded me of a secular group I had previously heard. Their impeccable harmony reminded me of a girl band named Wilson Phillips, but I was sure this wasn’t Wilson Phillips. These women were clearly singing about Jesus in a way that I had never heard before.
The group of women the Holy Spirit was using to capture my attention was none other than Point of Grace. The song is entitled, “I Have No Doubt.” I have no doubt this was Providentially appointed.
I listened to the words carefully, amazed and quite frankly envious, that anyone else could see God the way they did. I didn’t understand, but I was drawn.
That was the only song I listened to that day, but I heard the call letters for the radio station. It was being broadcast from Victoria, but it was a syndicated “sister station” from Houston. Actually, the station was outside Houston in a little town called Humble — the town I lived in. I would find that out much later.
A few days after I got home, I believe the Holy Spirit reminded me of that song and how it affected me that Sunday. So I began looking for that station I had heard over a hundred miles away…and to my surprise I found it.
I also found myself attracted to this station when I was alone in my apartment. I would listen every now and then, allowing the unfamiliar sentiments to waft through my mind…right into my very soul.
Over time, I began to notice a different disposition about me when I was listening to this Christ-honoring music. I noticed that my thoughts were lighter, more gentle, more pleasant. At first, my favorite time to listen was in the morning getting ready for work. Then I noticed a difference in my day when I listened on my radio at work. Then it became my company on my commute. Literally before I knew it, I was listening to the “God Listens” radio station almost exclusively!
What I didn’t fully comprehend at the time was that the Holy Spirit was communicating to me through the words of those songs. I was hearing the Gospel presented in a way that made sense to me. It may have been recorded over an upbeat tempo or a slow melody, but it was the Truth I was hearing. “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” (Romans 10:17)
Late one night, I was alone in my apartment except the companionship of KSBJ on the radio and, more importantly, the presence of the Holy Spirit. The DJ began the most beautiful monologue I had ever heard: he explained the Gospel, the Good News of Jesus, with anyone who would listen. That cool night in November 1994, that anyone was me.
I knew when he talked about the sinner, that was me. I had made a mess out of my life. I thought I had everything under control, but it was far from it. When he said that all sinners are in need of a Savior, and that Jesus is that One and Only Savior provided by a loving Father in Heaven, I knew I didn’t want to walk this road alone anymore.
I had never heard the “sinner’s prayer,” or seen anyone walk down an aisle, or heard the term “ask Jesus in my heart.” All I knew at that moment, that precious, precious moment, was that Jesus Christ wanted the reigns in my life, and I needed Him to take them.
So with tears streaming down my face, I audibly cried out to the Creator of the universe, and He stepped down from Heaven and into my heart, my life, my whole being. I don’t remember everything I said to Him in that prayer, but I do specifically remember saying, “I don’t know if I can do this, I’m afraid I’m going to fail. But I need You in my life and I trust what You’re telling me.”
It makes me smile to think of His expression when I said I don’t think I can do it. I just picture Him saying, “I know My child, I know. I will do it through you.”
Later that night, I pulled down my big, heavy Bible. I had never given it any attention before, but somehow that night, it seemed like an old friend. I began to pour over it, not sure where to start. Naturally, I thought, “How hard could it be? It’s a Book; I’ll start at the beginning!”
Genesis was a bit over my head once I got past Adam and Eve. I had no idea how genealogies could apply to this new life I had just discovered! (Now I understand…but I needed some help back then!) So I called the only other person who had anything to do with that night: the DJ at KSBJ.
I told him about my conversion that very night, and that I knew I needed to read the Bible to learn more, but I had no idea where to start. He said, “I would suggest one of the Gospels, like the book of John. It’s in the New Testament.”
I said, “What’s the New Testament?” It was going to be a long night for him. 🙂
(There’s more to this story on my old blog from YEEEEAAARRS ago here. This was already long enough to make the point.)
From that day on, music was always a huge part of growing as a new believer for me. Once I was married and had small children in my care, it was the Christian music drifting from my kitchen radio that kept me moving on the floor and directing my face and heart upward in praise! Many years in Sunday services in corporate worship – not just listening to and memorizing the songs, but actually singing them to the Lord Himself – allowed their truths to sink deeply into my soul through my open heart.
As the boys and I got older (them in their childhood, me in my walk), we spent many hours in the car traveling back and forth to our homeschool co-op, or baseball or football practice, or choir, or math or sign language lab, or…you name it. And when you live outside the city limits so you can have a little breathing room away from neighbors like we do, you spend a lot of time in the car!
While we sang our hearts out in the car or in the kitchen or in the sanctuary (we all understand they are all sanctuaries, right?), we were all either being taught or having what we knew to be true reaffirmed day in and day out. We were all – whether 3 years old or 35 years old – writing our personal worldviews guided by lyrics that came from Truth. Each one of us. During these times, not only were we steeping in the Truth, but we were worshipping our creator in it.
Joy is uniquely tied to worship. Even people who don’t acknowledge God worship something or someone. It might be material things, accumulating money (security), recognition, or even nature. My guess is the most common false god is probably the self.
Our worship is based on whoever or whatever we are focused. The reason we can’t find joy very easily is because of what we worship, that is, on what or on whom we place our focus. There is only One Source of joy; if we focus elsewhere, we will be disappointed every time.
This is why when we operate from a place of joy, we are able to maintain that joy through the most difficult, even impossible, situations. Doesn’t mean we’re happy about the situation; it just means we know there is a bigger picture and One that we can trust with it during the most tumultuous storms.
This isn’t a modern phenomenon. Horatio Spafford was an American attorney and real estate investor in the late 1800s. He was a Presbyterian layman from Chicago and was friends with Dwight L. Moody. Spafford suffered a great monetary loss during the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. That alone would be enough to do most of us in.
Thinking his family needed to get away for a while, he sent his beloved wife and four daughters on a ship to England, intending to wrap up some pressing business in Chicago and join them shortly afterward. While crossing the Atlantic, their ship was involved in a terrible collision with a British ship and quickly sank. Over 200 people aboard lost their lives, including all four of Horatio’s precious young daughters, the youngest just 18 months old. His wife, Anna, was picked up unconscious on a floating piece of the wreckage. Upon arriving in England, his wife sent him a telegram: “Saved alone. What shall I do?”
Naturally, Spafford immediately set sail for England to join his grieving wife. The Captain of the ship, aware of the recent shipwreck and its coordinates, told Horatio that they were now passing over the area where the ship when down.
Horatio, grieving himself, no doubt could have been completely overcome by his grief. But instead, while thinking of his young daughters and how his wife was spared, words of comfort and hope seeped into this man’s soul, and from it was born one of the most beloved hymns of all time:
When peace like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll—
Whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to know
It is well, it is well with my soul.
I don’t know if I can imagine anything more terrible in all the world than to lose one child, let alone all of them at once.
How does one even hear words of comfort and hope during such a tragedy? It’s unfathomable. That’s why Scripture teaches that the peace of God surpasses all understanding (Philippians 4:7). It really does. And joy does the same thing, which is why there is only One Source of it.
So if joy is tied to worship, and worship is about who or what we focus on, then music is one of the most effective and penetrating avenues for focus, worship, and joy.
If you’ve never really listened to Christian music before but you feel motivated now, you might be thinking, “I have no idea what to listen to!” There’s a link to the radio station that Christ used to teach me in my testimony above, but I also will include a playlist below that I’ve listened to off and on for many years now.
The boys put this together for me when we all carpooled every week to EVERYTHING. Use it to get you started! These songs are a little old, but if you’ve not listened to it before, what difference does that make? 😉
If it doesn’t play for you on your device, you can click the three dots below and either play straight on Spotify or copy the link. You may need to create a free account.
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