It's so ridiculous that we are still having to have these discussions. We do not have to sacrifice lyrical content to have good music, NOR do we have to dumb down the music to validate the words. It's maddening to me that anything outside the normal musically is dismissed as being a "rock show" or what is above the normal lyrical baby food is responded to like "Um...I don't get it...there are too many words." This isn't to say that few words are bad or a simple song is either, but the idea that either side is promoting, i.e. a wholesale dumbing down of either music or lyrics, is completely preposterous. There is no grounds for the "holiness" of simple music or simple words. You can prefer either of those but please, let us stop putting on airs that our preferred area of simplicity is more holy. God created us in His image. Part of that is that we imitate Him in His creativity. By saying we have too many instruments or volume, words or ideas is so ignorantly void of the context of God's creation that glorifies Him, I am usually left to wonder if people even look around them once in a while. Even in the simplicity of the seeds, there are complex levels of dna, potential energy and systems designed to get a plant started. I think we have the wrong idea that God only speaks in the "still small voice" of 1 Kings 19. But do you think when the Psalmist declares in 148 "Praise the LORD from the earth, you great sea creatures and all ocean depths," that they do it in a whisper? Do you really think a subtle and simple noise is spoke of in Psalm 98 "Let the sea resound, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it." Of course not. We can not assume simple words or music 100% of the time is even acceptable by scriptural standards. There are no grounds for that. We can not be stagnant. We must continue to respond to the greatness of what God is, what God has done, and what God has promised He will do in like manner. Let us consider these two passages and ask ourselves these questions: does my worship sound like this, and does it even attempt to match the grandeur He has made to surround Himself to bring Himself glory?
Psalm 150
1Praise the Lord.
Praise God in his sanctuary;
praise him in his mighty heavens.
2Praise him for his acts of power;
praise him for his surpassing greatness.
3Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet,
praise him with the harp and lyre,
4praise him with timbrel and dancing,
praise him with the strings and pipe,
5praise him with the clash of cymbals,
praise him with resounding cymbals.
6Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.
Praise the Lord.
Revelation 4
1After
this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven.
And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” 2At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. 3And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and ruby. A rainbow that shone like an emerald encircled the throne. 4Surrounding
the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were
twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on
their heads. 5From
the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder.
In front of the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven
spirits of God. 6Also in front of the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal.
In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back. 7The
first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the
third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle. 8Each
of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes
all around, even under its wings. Day and night they never stop saying:
“ ‘Holy, holy, holy
is the Lord God Almighty,’
who was, and is, and is to come.”
9Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever, 10the
twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne and
worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before
the throne and say:
11“You are worthy, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will they were created
and have their being.”
