The God Who Acts

 The Psalms, making up the hymn book of the Old Testament, were written with certain assumptions in view which we tend to be missing in our singing today. 

1.) God acts in time and space according to the worship, the faith, the prayers, and the obedient faithfulness, of His people.

2.) He blesses His people when they obey Him, and disciplines them when they don’t. He also comes to their aid when they cry out for Him in humble dependence, showing Himself at work in their lives according to their needs.

3.) His acts are generally verifiable, though exceptions exist, because God is eternally uncircumscribable. Sometimes God and His acts are known only to Him, as He chooses to keep Himself hidden. And yet He often makes Himself known even to unbelievers through His acts, such that He receives glory through them knowing He is the one living and true God. When God acts, both believers and unbelievers can identify it.

4.) Victory and blessing are things that should be expected among God’s people. This does not mean sinless perfection, but a general trend in that direction. Nor does it mean that sickness, suffering, and death will never exist, or only exist as the result of some specific sin. The absence of victory and blessing among God’s people, however, often indicates unbelief and disobedience.

5.) Reflecting on God’s acts in history through corporate song should be a part of worship. The Israelites could and would sing about how they saw God acting in their own time.

Our singing, in contrast, quite often has a Gnostic tilt to it - detached from our own lives, and as if God stopped operating in the world in the first century. Or, it is individualistic, focusing strictly on the salvation of individuals. At its best it focuses on the Work of Christ. But somehow we sing as if Christ’s work has no ongoing effects beyond the salvation of individuals, pulling them out of a world that is not under His kingly authority and supervision. 

These thoughts are a work in process, and for now I offer them up as they are.