“You are my hiding place; You preserve me from trouble; You surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah.” (Psalm 32:7 NASB)
The psalmist sang this declaration to the Lord after realizing how blessed he was to be free from the guilt, shame, and penalty of his transgressions.
Praise and worship doesn’t require anything more than a thankful, grateful heart. It is simply about touching the Father’s heart; and Father touching ours. And God is pleased when we sing just because we’re grateful.
When God’s happy, his people get happy. What makes God happy enough to join us in our gathering?
Gratefulness. Thankfulness.
That’s reason enough to sing, don’t you agree? It sure works for me.
So I sing to the Lord, “You are my hiding place. You preserve me from trouble. You have surrounded me with ‘songs to escape by’”.
Did you notice that last line? ‘Songs of deliverance’ also means ‘songs to escape by’.
How does God give us, surround us with, songs to escape by?
Think of it sort of as “words to live by”, only it’s singing while fleeing. Singing while escaping. Now maybe it’s becoming clear.
Escape from what? Well, there are snares belonging to the “trapper”; our adversary. There are also secret sins (or areas in our life we can’t see). There are evil men and women planning our demise…
And there’s the marvelous escape from the guilt, shame, and penalty of sin! Hallelujah!
The point is, to the grateful, the thankful, God gives special songs. Songs to sing when escaping captivity, escaping the trapper’s snare, and escaping from the plots and schemes of evil men and women.
The songs?
Praise and worship! Songs to escape by.
I’m sure you know that some songs carry an “anointing” to make you sad, glad, and bad. But God has songs to help you escape! Oh, happy day!
Come on! Pick up your hymnal, the book of psalms, and let it out!
Go ahead. Sing! God doesn’t care if a braying mule has a better voice than yours.
SING! SING! SING!
And flee like a bird escaping from the trapper’s snare; the fowler’s feast.
“Blessed be the LORD, Who has not given us as prey to their teeth. Our soul has escaped as a bird from the snare of the fowlers; the snare is broken, and we have escaped. Our help is in the name of the LORD, Who made heaven and earth.” (Psalm 124:6-8 NKJV)
Jan Grace 