teaching songs

Psalm 60 has an interesting inscription: “for teaching”. The Psalms have been called “Israel’s songbook”. What is the purpose of singing? As a worship designer and leader I tend to use music for dramatic effect, to get the worshipers excited or reflective, to lift their spirits or to open their hearts. I’m not saying that this is bad. Worship should involve our emotions. But how often do I think of music as a teaching tool, one that opens our minds to new truths?

And Psalm 60 is about hard, challenging times, times when God seems to have rejected us (verse 1): “You have shown your people desperate times.” (verse 3). When we sing about those kinds of times we are being taught something about ourselves and about God that we might not get out of a “happy” song. So I’m glad that songwriters are still writing those sorts of songs for worshiping God. And I’ll try to use them more as I design and lead worship.