While at Dallas Seminary in the 80’s, I remember loving to hear 500 men in Chaffer chapel sing the Seminary hymn, “All hail the power of Jesus’ Name, let angels prostrate fall….” It was extremely moving; all those male voices singing a song that they all knew so well and all believed in so strongly. Every person in that chapel, from student body to faculty had committed their lives to the truths of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Those were the high moments. You’ve had yours too. Maybe it was at a Promise Keepers gather, or Women of Faith, or a special Worship service or just a great time of uniting voices together in songs of praise. Those are high times.

But we always have to come back down and put the words we sing into practice in our day to day lives. That’s the hard part. Moses’ Song in Deuteronomy 32 is all about how great God is and I imagine the “high times” the nation had singing it together. However, what mattered to God was the obedience in their day to day lives which Israel failed to achieve.

Elisabeth Elliot, at Urbana 76, told of her brother Thomas Howard. Their mother let him play with paper bags she’d saved if he put them away afterwards. One day she walked into the kitchen to find them strewn all over the floor. Tom was out at the piano with his father singing hymns. When confronted, he protested, “But Mom, I want to sing.” His father stated, “It’s no good singing God’s praise if you’re disobedient.”