Our worship songs today, those with words and melody that literally grab our hearts and get the attention of our minds lost in thought with an exact message of truth at exactly the right time we need it most is borrowed from God’s Word!  The composer generally writes from a place of rescue, conviction, and resolved faith in the Rescuer and Deliverer.  These are the songs of praise that speak into the depths of our hearts and fills that holy space reserved alone for God. 

God’s Holy Spirit, a part of God, equal to Jesus, promised by God through Jesus, does indeed come to be our Helper/Counselor/Guide/Comforter/Corrector who leads us to all that is Truth in a world consumed with lies. The Holy Spirit comes to reside deep within us at the very moment we say yes to Jesus in surrender of our will to His perfect, pleasing will for us. Christ is the Rock of our Foundation of Faith. 

His Word is designed to not only teach us the path to follow with specific instructions; His Word is used to compose the songs we sing in worship that express our need of God, our love for God, our thanksgiving to Jesus for saving us, all with the growing knowledge of who God is as a testimony to others seeking to fill their emptiness with God’s Holy Spirit.

This is the secret, writes the Apostle Paul, called of God through Jesus to teach new believers gathered in church groups trying to figure out how to walk humbly with God.  Paul explains the “secret” in this way and is for ALL who believe in Jesus;

“For God wanted them to know that the riches and glory of Christ are for you Gentiles, too. And this is the secret: Christ lives in you. This gives you assurance of sharing his glory.

So we tell others about Christ, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all the wisdom God has given us. We want to present them to God, perfect in their relationship to Christ. That’s why I work and struggle so hard, depending on Christ’s mighty power that works within me.” Colossians 1:27-29, NLT (Emphasis mine)

Paul’s message was not new; He relied on and spoke the words of God as given from God’s Holy Spirit living in him—so that the world may know Jesus as the only way to God.

The Psalmist borrows from other Psalms to create new songs!  Warren Wiersbe states; “The first three verses are adapted from Psalm 31:1–3, a perfectly legitimate practice among psalmists. This writer also borrowed from Psalms 22, 31, 35, and 40, to name just a few of his sources. On 71:1, see 7:1; 11:1; 16:1; 22:5; 25:2, 20; and 31:17. (On the image of the rock, see 18:2.) If the author was a temple musician, his mind and heart were no doubt filled with the psalms that he had sung day after day.

Our expressions to God, like our language itself, need not be original with us. Borrowed words and phrases, spoken from the heart, will certainly please God.” –Wiersbe Study Bible

It is the conditions of our hearts, not the words we speak, pray, or sing, that God looks upon as we honor Him.

Psalm 71, NIV

In you, Lord, I have taken refuge;
    let me never be put to shame.
² In your righteousness, rescue me and deliver me;
    turn your ear to me and save me.
³ Be my rock of refuge,
    to which I can always go;
give the command to save me,
    for you are my rock and my fortress.
⁴ Deliver me, my God, from the hand of the wicked,
    from the grasp of those who are evil and cruel.

⁵ For you have been my hope, Sovereign Lord,
    my confidence since my youth.
⁶ From birth I have relied on you;
    you brought me forth from my mother’s womb.
    I will ever praise you.
⁷ I have become a sign to many;
    you are my strong refuge.
⁸ My mouth is filled with your praise,
    declaring your splendor all day long.

⁹ Do not cast me away when I am old;
    do not forsake me when my strength is gone.
¹⁰ For my enemies speak against me;
    those who wait to kill me conspire together.
¹¹ They say, “God has forsaken him;
    pursue him and seize him,
    for no one will rescue him.”
¹² Do not be far from me, my God;
    come quickly, God, to help me.
¹³ May my accusers perish in shame;
    may those who want to harm me
    be covered with scorn and disgrace.

¹⁴ As for me, I will always have hope;
    I will praise you more and more.

¹⁵ My mouth will tell of your righteous deeds,
    of your saving acts all day long—
    though I know not how to relate them all.
¹⁶ I will come and proclaim your mighty acts, Sovereign Lord;
    I will proclaim your righteous deeds, yours alone.
¹⁷ Since my youth, God, you have taught me,
    and to this day I declare your marvelous deeds.
¹⁸ Even when I am old and gray,
    do not forsake me, my God,
till I declare your power to the next generation,
    your mighty acts to all who are to come.

¹⁹ Your righteousness, God, reaches to the heavens,
    you who have done great things.
    Who is like you, God?
²⁰ Though you have made me see troubles,
    many and bitter,
    you will restore my life again;
from the depths of the earth
    you will again bring me up.
²¹ You will increase my honor
    and comfort me once more.

²² I will praise you with the harp
    for your faithfulness, my God;
I will sing praise to you with the lyre,
    Holy One of Israel.
²³ My lips will shout for joy
    when I sing praise to you—
    I whom you have delivered.
²⁴ My tongue will tell of your righteous acts
    all day long,
for those who wanted to harm me
    have been put to shame and confusion.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

We sing from the heart of the goodness and majesty of our God!

Lord,

Thank you for living within my soul. Thank you for daily cleansing my heart, renewing my mind, refreshing my soul and restoring the joy unspeakable, full of the glory of your salvation at work deep within me.  Thank you for parting the waters of lies that overwhelm us each day to present Truth—You, only You.  Help us to be more and more like you in every way.  May our focused attention be always on You.

In Jesus Name, Amen