I will sing a new song to you, my God; on the ten-stringed lyre I will make music to you … - Psalm 144:9

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 15, 2016): Psalm 144

It was a great feeling. Buying that album that you had been waiting for, and then taking the plastic wrapping off and slipping the recording into a CD player or placing it on a turntable. And then all you had to do was sit back and listen. The experience is archaic in a world of streaming music, but it is a great memory. Sometimes what emerged from the speakers was musical heaven, sometimes it was junk and you wondered why you had wasted the money on something like that. But that, too, was simply part of the experience. And usually, even the worst album had a song or two with which the listener could connect.

Usually. I do remember buying an album off of a street vendor. I had never heard of the band but the guy who sold it to me listed a number of artists who had endorsed the project. And hidden in the list was George Harrison. I had always been a Beatles fan and I owned a couple of Harrison’s solo albums, so I figured it was worth the risk. It wasn’t. It didn’t take me very long to realize that I had just purchased a Hare Krishna promotional work. Oops. I don’t think I was ever able to listen to the whole album.

The secret of great music is that it makes a connection with who we are. I am convinced that that is why music, at least today, isn’t often generational. As the emotional gaps between the generations grow, so do the songs that touch us, that give us that amazing feeling that is only available through music. And so different songs affect the generations in a different way. And today, songs tend to have a shelf life. We don’t often think of music that lasts, we need music that connects with the season of life that we are in – and so there is always room for one more song.

And so David makes this pledge, he will sing a new song. I don’t think that he is saying that he will reject the old songs, the ones connected with the things that God had done previously in his life. But he was not willing to allow God to exist solely in the past. God would connect with his present, and he would do so with a “new song” that matched his current experience.

Centuries and centuries later, the Imperials would remind us of this idea with these words –

As long as there is time, and one breath left in me
There will always be one more song for You
As long as there is room for one more voice in praise
And a need for a word of love and truth, to help my brother through
There'll be one more song for You

(One More Song for You – Michael and Stormie Omartion).

So, don’t stop singing the old songs, but allow room for your current experience with God to connect with a new song that your voice can sing.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Psalm 145