Changeless Truths In Changing Melodies

I want you to imagine something. Imagine a small, wooden, old box that’s small enough to fit in the palm of your hand. It has a metal hinge on the back so it can open from the top. However, it's worn and torn. The wood is weathered, the color has faded, and the hinges are rusted. Now, I want you to imagine the same style of box. Only this time it’s brand new. The hinges are shiny, there is a velvet cover around the box, it opens smoothly, and inside there is a nice leather cushion. Is there one box that you would be more inclined to open? The good news is you can open either because both happen to be ring boxes containing a beautiful, bright diamond inside!

That is often how we think about music. The only difference is, we often tend to choose one box over the other when there is something to be treasured in both. One of my favorite things about our church is that we have a good balance between older songs and newer songs. This coming Sunday evening we are going to open our service with “All Creatures Of Our God And King” which was written close to 800 years ago! Following that will be “Praise Him” which was released in 2022. Yet, both contain truth to be treasured.

 This is how I would encourage you to think about the music of our church. Learn to treasure the diamond even if the box is different. We have a plethora of wonderful songs both new and old; and I would agree that it can be difficult at times to embrace one type of “box” when you’re so used to another kind. But just as a different style of box doesn’t change the value of the diamond, a different style of music doesn’t change the truth of the song. We can learn to appreciate changing melodies, while we treasure unchanging truth within those melodies.

There is one more thing to think about. What exactly is the diamond? If we labor to make sure all our songs contain a diamond to be treasured, what exactly is the diamond we’re treasuring? To answer this, I want us to think about David’s words in Psalm 40.

“And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the LORD.” - Psalm 40:3

Have you ever wondered what David meant by “new song?” I don’t think he meant the latest hit out of Israel’s top record label. Instead, I believe this new song David is singing is a reflection of the work that God did in his life. It wasn’t a newly written song, it was a freshly performed work of God that was being sung about.

 “He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.” - Psalm 40:2 

And so it is with us. Our new song is all about the work of grace God has performed in our lives. So whether it’s a song from the last century or last week, so long as our songs have some reflection of the beautiful diamond of the Gospel, we can be sure we are singing a new song unto the Lord.