Singing the Songs of the Kingdom

There was a time, probably in the early 2000s, when there was a shift in “Praise & Worship” music. There seemed to be an awakening to the reality that many of those choruses that I became familiar with in my
younger years were self-centered instead of God-centered. And as the songs became more and more God-centered, I started to notice more and more songs that had a God’s-heart-for-the-nations theme to them. These were all very good shifts, in my opinion. As I watched this metamorphosis occurring, I kept thinking, “But why don’t they just sing Psalms?”

I’m grateful to have grown up in a Psalm-singing household and in Psalm-singing churches. The Psalms are my heart music and, as such, embedded in my soul. But I didn’t always connect that so many of the Psalms speak about God’s heart for the nations. I think that was because, when the Psalms spoke about our Father’s global heart, I selfishly related that to myself and my own nation and didn’t think further than that. But as we are incorporated into God’s heart reflected in the Psalms, how much more should we consider those who have yet to be grafted in?

It is my belief that, as Psalm singers, Reformed Presbyterians should be one of the best-equipped bodies of believers for missions. Not only do the Psalms give us a bridge to so many in need of the Gospel of the Kingdom—particularly Muslims and Jews—but they give us the theology of missions. Over and over and over again they emphasize that God is calling to himself worshippers from all the families of the earth. They
remind us that we are his messengers to the peoples (aka people groups). They proclaim that there are people from all the tribes whom God has chosen for adoption into his family. These Psalms should compel us to go and send into the nations, singing these songs of the kingdom to the peoples desperately in need of the message proclaimed through them.

Next time you are singing Psalms in church or at home, look for God’s heart for the nations. Ask him how he would have you respond to that heart. Then, come back here and share how the Holy Spirit is urging your
heart to respond.

O God, show mercy to us,
And bless us with Your grace;
And cause to shine upon us
The brightness of Your face;
So that the whole world over
May truly know Your way,
And so that Your salvation
All nations see displayed.
O God, let peoples praise You;
Let all the peoples praise.
Let nations come rejoicing,
And songs of gladness raise.

Psalm 67C, stanza 1, The Book of Psalms for Singing