Rescue Songs

INTRO:

October 9th, 2017 Ireland beat Wales 1-0 to qualify for the World Cup. Aftwerwards, they cheered… and then they went home…NOOOO! They stood around and sang, this rowdy, kind of ridiculous one word anthem, “Ole” which in Spanish is like “Bravo!” Check out the scene.

Play this video: https://youtu.be/UcOQeI29M7Y?t=77

Singing… it’s kinda weird when you think about it. We can communicate all we need to with just plain words. And yet music has been part of every culture since the dawn of time. Sure, we could survive without song, but life would be missing something, it would be flat. (Get it? B flat, versus Be natural).

Remember the 1st week Tim talked about how when we sing, all kinds of good things happen to us physiologically. Pleasure hormones are released. That’s great news! I think this is really important to hear, particularly with all the stress and sorrow this past 18 months have brought. God actually designed us to feel better by singing - and singing in community!

TRANSITION TO PSALM 40:

We’re in our 3rd week of this series on singing (Show “Sing” Slide.) - and I so appreciated how Tim & Christian started us out. If you haven’t listened already, be sure to check our website or on Youtube or wherever you get your podcasts. Today we are focusing on a particular kind of song we see in the Bible & culture: songs of deliverance, rescue songs. (The title of the sermon will be “Rescue Songs”)

Ya know, if you think about it, that song “Ole” is kind of a rescue song - The Irish fans sang it because their team won, and in so doing, delivered them from shame, rescued them from the agony of defeat. You can be sure the Welsh fans weren’t singing it. (We’ll hear about Songs of lament later in the series).

The rescue Psalm we’ll look at today is about in the middle of your Bible, Psalm 40. We’ll see a bit of “Ole” flavor… though with a bit more lyrics variety.

We are not given any background about when or why he wrote this song, but when it comes to the writer David needing to be rescued - take your pick! Remember when as a young man, he was on the run for years from crazy king Saul, hucking spears at him and marching out with his whole army to hunt David like an animal? David fled to the enemy Philistines at one point, pretending to be crazy himself, foaming at the mouth, to avoid becoming chopped liver. He had big marriage problems, got busted for sleeping with another man’s wife and having the husband killed; the resulting baby boy died; later another of David’s sons violated his daughter; he fled the capital from another son’s insurrection… the list goes on.

He regularly needed rescue. How about you, it might not be that dramatic, but Is there anything you need to be rescued from today? Or is there a divine rescue that stands out in your history?

Let’s read how his Rescue Song starts:

1 I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry. 2 He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. 3 He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear the Lord and put their trust in him.

Do you ever wonder what this song actually sounded like? There’s always U2’s rendition - “I will sing, sing a new song” - doubtful. What scale did they use? How did the instruments accompany him? What kind of chord changes did the band chart out? I wonder if God intentionally left several hundred years before humans figured out basic notation, so we wouldn’t be locked in to one melody & style. Thanks to an Italian monk named Guido, in 1025 AD, people finally began to be able to pass the melodies along in written form. (Show image) But I digress…

This phrase, “I waited patiently”, in the original Hebrew is literally, “Waiting, I waited”—a common Hebrew idiom, when emphasizing an idea.

I like how Eugene Peterson translates it, “I waited and waited and waited for God.” - Psalm 40:1 - The Message Anybody been there? Before the rescue comes the waiting...

Waiting for help is hard. Many of us know that angst, that longing for God to show up, be it a health crisis, a hard hearted child, an addiction, a Covid pandemic? Yeah, we know about waiting...

It is really difficult not to take matters in our own hands - to give up on God and just start swinging. Not that we are to passively sit down & do nothing. No, in David’s mind, his patience still involves pleading:

In verse 11 of the same Psalm he sings, “Do not withhold your mercy from me, Lord; may your love and faithfulness always protect me. 12 For troubles without number surround me; my sins have overtaken me, and I cannot see. They are more than the hairs of my head, and my heart fails within me. 13 Be pleased to save me, Lord; come quickly, Lord, to help me.”

And God doesn’t always come to the rescue how & when we want. But there are times, and I wish we had time to hear all the personal stories here, that many of us could echo these words:

“He turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.”

Times where it wasn’t by our smarts, our charisma, our financial savvy, or blind luck - but by the outstretched hand of a wonderworking God that we were scooped up out of a terrible predicament.

This “slimy pit”, also translated, “a pit of despair”, “a pit of destruction”, “a dangerous pit”, could also be that time before knowing Jesus, when we were doing our own thing, had made a mess of things, and finally realized we were in a pit and couldn’t get out. And Jesus, through His death & resurrection, came & scooped us up, planting our feet on solid rock - not just for today, but for eternity.

Take a moment to reflect on a time where God lifted you out of a slimy pit, a pit of despair. Or maybe when you first recognized your need for a Savior - that you were incapable of managing your life with purity and goodness. Or if you are just checking out Christianity, think of a time you survived a close call, that made you question if there’s something or someone out there watching over you...

Maybe it’s even during this long season of Covid. It sure has been one where globally, “We waited, and waited, and waited for rescue”

TRANSITION: Do you remember how you responded to being rescued?

Let me share a short story from Luke 17. Jesus was going to a village when 10 lepers met him, crying out for mercy. Jesus tells them to go show themselves to the priests and on the way they’re all miraculously healed!

In verse 15 we read the shocker that “One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice.” - Luke 17:15

What’s with the other 9? Well, this guy’s got it right. The proper response to rescue is thanks & praise.

I just see it bubbling out of this guy, while he’s dancing & prancing. (SING) “Thank you. Thank you. Leprosy jacked my life but you healed my skin.”

Now the text doesn’t say he sang a new song, but it wouldn’t be surprising if he cut a record soon after.

TRANSITION TO SINGING A NEW SONG:

King David was of course a prolific song writer, and as he put it in his song, “[The LORD] put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God.” - Psalm 40:3. His response to being rescued? Over and over - thanks and praise.

Let’s take a closer look at this idea of singing a new song. 4 times in the Psalms we are encouraged to “Sing a new song to the LORD.”

Now of course this can look like listening to Praise106.5 and finding new worship artists on Spotify & Youtube. And we're always adding new songs like today’s - “I will sing of the goodness of God.”

But I want to provide a couple tools that can help us non-song writer types to dip our toes into the writing of new songs. Cuz notice the text doesn’t say “He put a grammy award winning song in my mouth”.

I mean “Ole” - it only has 1 word and 4 different notes. “Ole, ole, ole, ole”. Even if it sounds like this: (Sing out of tune)

The singers in the room will tell you, that’s actually hard to do.

Watch this: Talking is just singing out of tune. Talking… is just singing out of tune… BUT, what’s fascinating is that when I talk, the left side of my brain is at work, (SING:) but when I sing, the right hemisphere of my brain lights up & fills my body with “Ole, Ole, Ole”… Heck, you could use that melody if you want, “Thank God, thank God, Thank God, thank God...” come on, you know you want to join me. “Thank God...”

Alright, could be a while till I get asked to preach again. But we did just double the lyrical content of the “Ole” song.

But seriously, if you’ve never thought of yourself as a song writer, taking a melody from a favorite hymn and putting your own rescue theme on it can be a great way to participate in singing a new song. (Sing random rescue lyrics to “Amazing Grace”)

SONGS OF THE SPIRIT TRANSITION:

Here’s another idea for responding to God with new songs of rescue. Remember the verse Tim invited us to memorize during this series? “…Be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit....” Ephesians 5:18b-19 That phrase “Songs from the Spirit” has fostered much debate amongst theologians. What are “Songs from the Spirit”? One line of thought is spontaneous songs that just flow out, inspired by the Holy Spirit. (SING Spontaneously.)

Again - it doesn’t have to sound good! Our Father loves to hear our hearts.

Another idea behind “Songs from the Spirit” ties into 1 Corinthians 14 where Paul writes about praying and singing in other languages, or singing in tongues. Now I know this may be seem rather strange & uncomfortable, but for those who have experienced the gift of tongues, this can be a very enriching way to worship. Sometimes words feel clunky and I will just launch in like this: (MAYBE SING IN TONGUES).

Hmmmm, that was awkward. Thanks for staying with me, friends. I know this is stretching us, but I hope it is opening up some new pathways for new rescue songs.

TRANSITION TO SINGING A NEW RESCUE SONG

We’re going to stretch this idea of singing a new song just a little more as the worship to come onto the platform. We are going to write our own rescue song. Most of you know I love writing & recording songs - and while it can be a complex & laborious process, writing with others can supply all kinds of creativity & speed the process along. So get that right brain involved, put on your creative hats.

I need a lyrical phrase to get us started on this rescue song. Lord, help us… seriously, help us tell your rescue story and give you glory.