Articles
"Is Anyone Cheerful? Let Him Sing Psalms"
James 5:13-14 gives us instructions about how to respond when we are facing different things in life. It teaches, “Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord” (NKJV). A person who is cheerful is here commanded to sing psalms. The Old Testament also makes a connection between gladness and singing. Psalm 100:2 says, “Serve the Lord with gladness; come before His presence with singing” (NKJV). The parallelism of this statement would connect the concepts of gladness and singing as going together. Singing is something often connected with cheerfulness even today. Proverbs 25:20, which says, “Like one who takes away a garment in cold weather, and like vinegar on soda, is one who sings songs to a heavy heart” (NKJV), points out how singing songs does not appeal to those who have a heavy heart. How can we be like the righteous individual spoken of in Proverbs 29:6 who sings and rejoices?
Psalm 137 is a psalm dealing with the Jewish people while they are in Babylonian captivity. Consider the words of this psalm, “By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept when we remembered Zion. We hung our harps upon the willows in the midst of it. For there those who carried us away captive asked of us a song, and those who plundered us requested mirth, saying, ‘Sing us one of the songs of Zion!’ How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land?” (Psalm 137:1-4, NKJV). Here are a group of people suffering the consequences of sin. Here is a group of people who are certainly not cheerful. Here is a group of people incapable because of their sadness of singing the Lord’s song. If we want to avoid ending up like these individuals, one thing we can do is avoid sin so we are not suffering the consequences of bad choices we made and such hinder our cheerfulness and singing.
Isaiah 35:10 is another verse which comes to mind regarding this topic. Isaiah appears here to be prophesying of the blessings which would be brought through the Messiah. The ransomed are described as possessing everlasting joy and gladness which is accompanied by their singing. When we have been ransomed or redeemed from our sins by Jesus’ blood (Matthew 20:28; Mark 10:45; 1 Timothy 2:6; Ephesians 1:7), it should produce in us joy and gladness (Acts 8:39; 16:34) and as a result we should be going forth singing psalms. Do we appreciate and remember our salvation from sin so much it produces within us a cheerfulness which expresses itself in singing psalms?
Acts 16:25 is another passage which deserves some attention when discussing the connection between cheerfulness and singing. Paul and Silas are in Philippi and in the verses just prior to verse 25 they had their clothes torn off, received many stripes with rods, were thrown into the inner prison, and had their feet fastened in the stocks (Acts 16:22-24). Yet in Acts 16:25 the text says, “But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them” (NKJV). Paul and Silas were in no way in a pleasant situation but were able to still possess a spiritual focus, rejoice, and sing hymns to God. Maybe sometimes we face unpleasant outward circumstances in life like Paul and Silas yet we can continue to sing praises to God if we keep a proper perspective. Remember the Bible teaches us to rejoice in trials (James 1:2-4). Trials are not pleasant but can be beneficial. If we remember the benefit we can receive from trials, perhaps it will help us be more like Paul and Silas. Trials are not pleasant but we still can rejoice in our hope of heaven (Romans 12:12) when we face trials and be more like Paul and Silas. A person does not have to say they are not going to sing just because it appears they are going through a difficult time based upon their outward circumstances.
Singing should be the way people who are filled with the Spirit by allowing the word of Christ to dwell in them richly act (Ephesians 5:18-21; Colossians 3:16). Let’s make sure we take advantage of the opportunities we have when cheerful to sing psalms as James 5:13 teaches us to do!
