When Words Fail: The Humility of Music

The Pride of Knowledge

“For with much wisdom comes much sorrow; the more knowledge, the more grief.” (Ecclesiastes 1:18)

It’s astounding to me that God warns against too much knowledge. In today’s podcast culture, people applaud people for having a lot to say.

When I was a young Christian, I didn’t need to know much to really feel so much love for God. But as I grew and became more mature in the faith, I started to crave for more knowledge about God.

Now, this isn’t a bad thing in itself, I think. In fact, if we truly love the Lord, then it’s only natural that we want to know Him more and more and more, just like how we would with someone we’re romantically drawn to.

A believer who has deep joy over her salvation will inevitably want to express and share this joy to others. This is natural, healthy, and is really part of God’s design.

However, because the heart is so deceitful, what begins as a pure motive can head off into a completely wrong direction if we aren’t careful. There are many ways that sharing what we know about God can turn into a source of pride.

For example, if you find that people begin to applaud you for having really profound insight into the Scriptures, then you may begin to speak heaps about theology in order to gain approval.

Or when a person going through trouble comes to you for counsel, and you find that you have a gift for recalling the passages that are directly related to their problems, then you might take pride over being some kind of problem-solver or savior.

The Gift of Wisdom Requires A Clean Heart

But please note that just because you do have profound insight into the Scriptures, or you do have a gift in counseling, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you have selfish intentions. That is not my point.

I would just like to offer a gentle reminder to continually ask God to search our hearts—everyday would be ideal—so that in all our good works, we would never dare boast. Rather, we should preach the gospel everyday to ourselves so that the one thing, and one thing alone, that we boast in would the cross of Christ.

Anyone who serves should serve with the strength God gives so that in everything God will be praised through Jesus Christ. Power and glory belong to him forever and ever. (1 Peter 4:11)

So you can probably guess that I speak of this issue as someone who has dealt with it before. And I continue to pray every time I create something—whether an article, a video, or a song—that God would help me to rid me of myself both in the process, and in the outcome.

When Words Fail

Recently, I re-connected with a friend who is open to knowing more about Christ, but still has a lot of questions. I get really excited about new opportunities to answer people’s questions about God.

If I’m honest, because I enjoy talking about God so much, sometimes, I’m more inclined to read and write about it. But what that also means is that I find singing worship to God less mentally stimulating and enjoyable, which is ironic for a singer-songwriter.

Now as I was talking to my friend, she mentioned something as she was reflecting that unexpectedly humbled me. She said, “You know, I realize that sometimes I connect better with God through music. So thank you for your songs. They really help me.”

As someone who had been getting a little stagnant, and frankly quite less interested in, making music, that was a really humbling thought for me.

What kind of Christian would I be if I only knew everything about Scripture, and left it at that? If I didn’t meditate on it enough to sing it back to Him and bless His name? Wouldn’t that just make me look more like a Pharisee than a true believer?

Sharing A Glimpse of the Christian Life

Truly, God has created music for a very special reason. There’s power in this beautiful gift that goes beyond the mind. And yes, even if it’s just one line sung over and over again.

And it reminded me of when I started listening to music by Christian songwriters. God used them to help me get a glimpse of what it’s truly like to have a relationship with Him. In these songs, I saw that the struggles I have are truly not so rare. And there is grace available for every single one.

So if you happen to know someone (and that could also be yourself), whose questions about the Christian life can’t be answered by all the books and sermons that you recommend, then perhaps you can try sharing that song in your playlist that means a lot to you.

This is definitely no guarantee, of course, but it might be worth a try.

Here are some Christian playlists to get you started.

This article was inspired by Darla Baltazar’s post from July 23, 2023.

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