Christian Music #6 Psalm 88

The Psalms are the music book of the church.  This has been the case for a long time, and for longer than I will be alive.  Much of the best of Christian Music is reflecting the Psalms in our lives.  One of my favorite Psalms is a very sad one, like a country song Psalm.  Psalm 88 began to mean something to me when my mom died in a car accident.  In Psalm 88, our spiritual ancestor Heman pours out his soul unedited before the Lord.

Read it for yourself. . .

Psalm 88:1 A SONG. A PSALM OF THE SONS OF KORAH. TO THE CHOIRMASTER: ACCORDING TO MAHALATH LEANNOTH. A MASKIL OF HEMAN THE EZRAHITE.

O LORD, God of my salvation;
I cry out day and night before you.
 2 Let my prayer come before you;
incline your ear to my cry!
 3 For my soul is full of troubles,
 and my life draws near to Sheol.
4 I am counted among those who go down to the pit;
 I am a man who has no strength,
5 like one set loose among the dead,
like the slain that lie in the grave,
like those whom you remember no more,
 for they are cut off from your hand.
6 You have put me in the depths of the pit,
 in the regions dark and deep.
 7 Your wrath lies heavy upon me,
and you overwhelm me with all your waves. Selah
 8 You have caused my companions to shun me;
you have made me a horror to them.
I am shut in so that I cannot escape;
9 my eye grows dim through sorrow.
 Every day I call upon you, O LORD;
I spread out my hands to you.
10 Do you work wonders for the dead?
 Do the departed rise up to praise you? Selah
 11 Is your steadfast love declared in the grave,
 or your faithfulness in Abaddon?
12 Are your wonders known in the darkness,
or your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?
 13 But I, O LORD, cry to you;
in the morning my prayer comes before you.
14 O LORD, why do you cast my soul away?
 Why do you hide your face from me?
15 Afflicted and close to death from my youth up,
 I suffer your terrors; I am helpless.
16 Your wrath has swept over me;
your dreadful assaults destroy me.
17 They surround me like a flood all day long;
 they close in on me together.
18 You have caused my beloved and my friend to shun me;
 my companions have become darkness.


A friend of mine from summer camp has become a great Christian Musician.  He sings a song based on Psalm 88 that I got from someone for Christmas.  This would be a great Christmas present to someone on your list who is into music.  "Last Chance" by Jeremy Casella

The Psalms are the music the Church has been singing, what Psalm will you sing today?

Christian Music #5 Multilingual Worship

I was on top of a church in Chicago with brothers and sisters from the Dominican Republic who were teaching me to worship Jesus in a language that was not my mother tongue.  "Christo es la respuesta para el mundo hoy, sobre el no hay nada, El es nuetro Rey."

Jesus has always been big, but multilingual worship has helped me to recognize that Jesus Christ is bigger than my hometown or my country.  Jesus is bigger than America.  This may seem like a simple lesson.  But for me, and I suspect for others, this is an important lesson.

In Acts 2 Luke the author chose to write it all in Greek, but the words of worship to God were multilingual.   When the Holy Spirit came down, worship was in more than one language.  The Old Testament was written in Hebrew and Aramaic.  The New Testament was written in Greek.

I went to Israel and Greece and heard the worship of God in a language I did not understand.  I went to Kenya and heard, "Yesu ni wangu wauzima wamilele, wauzima, wamilele, wauzima wamilele."


  I went further into Kenya and was heard in the mountains, "Mwathani agosho."  I went south in Nyanza province in Kenya and heard many songs and "Eenookoe agongwe!"  began to mean something to me.

In praising God in English, the tongue I learned from my mother, I feel as an adult worshipping Jesus Christ.  In praising God in Spanish, Swahili, igiKuria, Kikiuyu, and other languages foreign to me have taught me to praise God like a child, being taught by others how to praise God.

If we shy away from the falling and tripping and stumbling of praising the Father in other tongues, could it be that we are too "adult" to become like a little child and enter into the kingdom of heaven.   Or in the tripping and stumbling of worshiping the Father in other languages, and we falling into the lap of the Father who cuddles us like a child, for we are His children, and He is our Father.

Christian Music #4 Taylor Worship

Continuing my posts on Christian Music, one of the other influential things for me was Taylor Chapel, and worshipping at Taylor University, where I went to college.  Taylor Chapels introduced me to Keith Green, and to worshipping God as young adults.

Worshipping together in groups, whether big or small, has been a great help in walking with Jesus and the others who follow Him.  There is something about worshipping Jesus Christ together.

Christian Music #3 Summer's Best Two Weeks

Continuing my posts on Christian Music I was heavily influenced by Summer Camp Music.  The Summer camp I went to was called Summer's Best Two Weeks.  We sand songs to Jesus.  We sang YMCA while washing the tables.  We cheered.  This is when Christian Music came alive to me and that I found something out that many have not.  Partying with drugs will only go so far.  Partying with Jesus Christ (without drugs) has no limit.  

Even though no campers are here, I still remember Kent when I was a camper.  Takes me back....

Christian Music #2 Rich Mullins

Continuing my ten posts on Christian Music, I was influenced early in my Christian life with Rich Mullins, a man from Richmond, IN near where I live.  Although it is hard, I will list my top ten favorite Rich Mullins songs.

1.  Hard to get

this song was honest about struggles in death that I needed and still need.  Honesty in worship is so needed if we are to reflect our song book, the book of Psalms.

2.  My one thing

3.  Land of my Sojourn

4.  Sometimes by step

I sand this while climbing Mt. Kenya.

5.  We are not as strong as we think we are.

6.  Creed

this is the apostles creed.  so good.

7.  Hold Me Jesus (Sorry this should have been #2 or 3)

8.  Ready for the storm
(my brother, Josh Hawkins and I think Lori Beadie sand this in Gerig Hall at TU)

9.  Peace

10.  While the nations rage

Christian Music #1 Evie

My first exposure to Christian Music was when I was in my mother's womb listening to her sing praise songs to Jesus.  Praising Jesus has always been a part of my life.  I am going to share in the next ten posts Christian Music that has been influential in my life to lead me to Jesus.

My mom played Evie records in our house growing up, and our favorite was "I may be 4 foot eleven but I'm going to heaven, and that makes me feel ten feet tall."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quPBRwFsljU

The faith of Judas

At the end of John 6 many disciples walk away from Jesus because of his hard teaching that they could not accept.  Jesus knew the ones who did not believe.
The twelve did not turn away but stayed and believed that Jesus was the Holy One of God.
One group did not believe and walked away.
One group believed and did not walk away.
One group had unbelief.
One group had belief.
Their belief shaped their behavior.
What about Judas?  What kind of belief did he have?
Judas was known to Jesus as the one who would betray him, as also Jesus knew those who did not believe.  So it seems that Judas is in the lot with those who did not believe.
On the other hand, Judas was one of the Twelve, who did not walk away, so it would appear that Judas was with those who believe.  What group was Judas in?  I believe that Jesus hints at this when he calls Judas a devil.
The devil is a liar, and the father of lies.
Judas had devilish belief.
Judas was a liar.
Judas pretended to go on with belief in Jesus, even though instead of following Jesus he intended to lead Jesus into a trap.
How am I like the many who walked away?
How am I like the twelve who believed and stayed with Jesus, having no plan B?
How am I like Judas, clinging to my own agenda, and pretending like it is following Christ, when I am only using Christ for my own purposes?

Lord, search my heart, and if there is any devilish belief, strip it out of me at whatever cost.
Please, Lord search our hearts, and help us to have true belief.