Mar 19

Zephaniah 3:17
Memorise Psalm 95:1
“…he will joy over thee with singing”

Zephaniah outlines the judgment of God upon Jerusalem, and also His plans for the future restoration of His people. Verse 17 speaks of how God will save His children in joy and consequently “rest in his love”. The word ‘rest’ literally has the idea that “He will be silent” – which means God will not bring any accusation of sin against us because His righteousness is imputed to us. He takes joy in His children’s singing. Through this verse, the overwhelming idea of God’s joy for his children is expressed, and what better way to do it than through singing?

The Bible did not define for us what melody is holy, so how do we determine what constitutes godly music?

We can draw principles from Scripture to guide us in understanding what godly music is. In yesterday’s reading, we learned that when we are singing, it must be to God, and therefore one principle we can use to guide us is that godly music is only what pleases God.

In today’s passage, one of the things we can learn is that godly music is employed for the purpose of expressing joy. However, does this mean that any music that expresses joy is godly?

This is most certainly not the case in this verse. The cause of God expressing joy over His children is tied to the fact that they have been saved. Thus, we learn that the joy must be based on what God has done.

In summary, godly music is music that pleases God, and music that helps us to rejoice by bringing to mind what God has done for us. Of course, there are many other biblical guidelines that we must employ in ensuring that the music we employ in worship is acceptable to God, but these are just a few basic principles that we must understand and use to discern godly music.

Thought: Does the music I listen to cause me to rejoice over what God has done in my life?
Prayer: Lord, help me to rejoice in the things that Thou hast joy in.