Zech.12:10 – And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication;
To some people worship, singing, and music are one and the same. I guess you would have to say they are the same until….until you see the incredible beauty of the Lord for yourself. When you see true beauty or greatness you really have no recourse, you have to worship. Worship and praise are our response to the beauty and greatness of God. A lifestyle of worship begins when the Spirit of God is poured out on us and the beauty of the Lord captures us. Then worship is no longer just music, it is the adoration of our great God. C.S. Lewis often wrote about experiencing beauty for yourself, here is something he said in his Reflections on the Psalms.
“I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment; it is its appointed consummation. It is not out of compliment that lovers keep on telling one another how beautiful they are; the delight is incomplete till it is expressed. It is frustrating to have discovered a new author and not to be able to tell anyone how good he is; to come suddenly, at the turn of the road, upon some mountain valley of unexpected grandeur and then to have to keep silent because the people with you care for it no more than for a tin can in the ditch; to hear a good joke and find no one to share it with. This is so even when our expressions are inadequate, as of course they usually are. But how if one could really and fully praise even such things to perfection—utterly ‘get out’ in poetry or music or paint the upsurge of appreciation which almost bursts you? Then indeed the object would be fully appreciated and our delight would have attained perfect development. The worthier the object, the more intense this delight would be…”
One of the sure signs of revival is true worship. I often think of my early days as a Christian when I got rid of all my old music because I had discovered worship. No one had to tell me to get rid of all my Beatles’ or Led Zeppelin albums, I just had no use for them anymore. Jesus had poured out His Spirit of revelation on me and had become altogether lovely. From that time on worship has replaced music for me because no one or nothing can compare to the beauty and majesty of the Lord.