Behold, God is my salvation; I
will trust, and not be afraid; for the Lord is
my strength and my song; he also has become my salvation.
Therefore, with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of
salvation. And in that day shall ye say: Praise the Lord, call upon
his name, declare his doings among the people, make mention that his name is
exalted. Sing unto the Lord; (2 Nephi 22: 2-4)
Sing
Unto the Lord
In this dispensation, the Lord has repeated
the importance of music to the Lord when He said to Emma Smith, For my soul
delights in the song of the heart; yea a song of the righteous is a prayer unto
me… Wherefore, lift up your heart and rejoice. (Doctrine and Covenants
25: 12-13) The Lord also said, cleave unto
the covenants which you have made. Music should help us so cleave.
In any study of the Old Testament, you will
find frequent references to song. In
fact, the Book of Psalms is almost entirely a book of songs. Music has a way of
reaching the Spirit that mere words alone sometimes miss. My father had a close
friend who had a remarkable singing voice and who also knew the power of good
music. He was called to the bedside of a
man who was dying. This good brother had
slipped into a coma and hadn’t recognized his family, nor said a single word
for many days. Michael[1]
sat at his bedside and began to sing some of the man’s favorite hymns. Much to the surprise of his family, the man
opened his eyes and began to smile. Such is the power of music. Several years
ago, this same Michael recorded a talk he had given on the topic of music. Just as we must take care what food we put
into our bodies to stay healthy, he said, we must also take care what we put
into our minds, including the music we choose. Discordant and raucous music is
actually damaging to the human brain. We
should remember that, as a prayer, a song should uplift and draw one closer to
the Lord, not away from Him.
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