Isaac reopened the wells that had been dug in the time of his father Abraham, which the Philistines had stopped up after Abraham died, and he gave them the same names his father had given them. – Genesis 26:18

Today’s Scripture Reading (June 11, 2015): Genesis 26

So … hymns or choruses? Which side are you on? New music inside the church has never received an easy ride. I love the story of Isaac Watts and his journey into church music. He hated the music that had come before him, music that his father’s generation had faithfully sung. But in his mind, there was nothing in the old music to commend itself. And so his father issued a challenge to him. If you don’t like the music we sing, then write your own. (Admittedly, dear old dad was not much for conforming to tradition, and that was a sin that would land the Senior Watts in jail.) But the young Isaac Watts took up the challenge that had been handed to him with a vengeance. He wrote and wrote and wrote. Today our hymnals (those books that churches used to have that contained hymns [songs] in them and are now most likely stored in some storage space in the church) are filled with songs written by Isaac Watts, Including “Joy to the World” (which was never intended to be used a Christmas Carol), “Oh God Our Help in Ages Past” and “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross.”

But it sometimes surprises people that his hymn were not originally readily accepted by the church. One pastor went as far as to write a scathing letter to the editor of a paper about the new church music – and by new music he meant anything written by Isaac Watts. The pastor’s words could have been written by any number of people to complain today about music written by Chris Tomlin or Matt Redman (or a myriad of other modern hymn writers.) Here are his words –

There are several reasons for opposing it.  One, it’s too new.  Two, it’s often worldly, even blasphemous.  The new Christian music is not as pleasant as the more established style.  Because there are so many new songs, you can’t learn them all.  It puts too much emphasis on the instrumental music rather than Godly lyrics.  This new music creates disturbances making people act indecently and disorderly.  The preceding generation got along without it.  It’s a money making scene and some of these new upstarts are lewd and loose. (This letter was written in 1723.)

Okay, I get it. Isaac Watts writes bad music. Except that hundreds of years later we are still singing his songs – even in contemporary driven worship services.

I remember a quote from Rich Mullins, given shortly before he died tragically in 1997, commenting at how amazed he was that the church was still singing “Awesome God” – a song he had written years earlier. And yet almost two decades later we are still singing the song. If the question is why, maybe the answer is because the song speaks emotionally to us, as do songs written by Tomlin, Redman and their contemporaries – and as do the songs written in centuries past by people like Isaac Watts and more recently Fanny Crosby, or Bill and Gloria Gaither. They speak a message to our souls exactly in the place where our souls live.

So what does any of this have to do with our story of another Isaac. Isaac moves back into the same country that his father had inhabited years earlier. In the intervening time, the Philistines who inhabited the land had unceremoniously closed the wells that Abraham had dug. Maybe one of the most important things that we learn about this Isaac is that he seems to be a very mild mannered person. He doesn’t get upset that he is being moved around, or that the wells have been stopped. Instead, he simply works to correct the situation. And one of the first things he does when he moves back into the land of his father is open up the wells that had been dug by dad. Then he gives to them the same names that his father had given to them, rejoicing with each one of his father’s accomplishments. There is no indication that that is all he did. Some things had to be remade from scratch, they had to be new – but not everything.

I believe that there is a powerful illustration here of our own spiritual lives. The question that I started out with is actually a false one. The question can’t be either/or. It has to be both. The spiritual resources that have sustained generations past can still sustain us today – even the music falls into this category. In fact, not only can it sustain us, but it is important that we, in faith, allow it to feed into our lives. Yes, some of these resources might need to be reshaped and polished for today, but these spiritual resources are essential for our spiritual enrichment. But we also need what is good about the spiritual resources that are being developed today. Neither can be ignored. God has given to us not just one or the other, but both with the intention that these resources would be used for the building of his people – and that is us.      

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Genesis 27