I stopped singing while in college. I had been a voice major and my professor thought that the best strategy to push me forward was to repeatedly tell me how awful I sounded. I never remembered what I had done correctly in those sessions. All I remembered was Mr. Slavin letting me know my failures. Singing had been a source of joy to me since childhood and in one semester at college, it all evaporated. The music died. I bought into the lie that music is all about technique and forgot that music is all about heart.
That’s why it resonates in my soul that through thick and thin, King David sang. He had a thankful heart and there are no notes in the Bible about him winning a singing contest; there are just notes about Who David was singing about. This is beautifully illustrated in Psalm 63:2-7: “I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory. Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands. I will be fully satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you. On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night. Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings.”
David had a lifelong habit of singing to God. While a young man, he sang to his sheep. Later he sang lullabies to calm the heart of a mentally ill king. On the battlefield, he sang when darkness surrounded him. Even when his own wife mocked him for his joyous singing (and dancing), David still sang before God. He sang to the end his 40 years reign as King over Israel. David had a heart which pursued God in praise. It wouldn’t have mattered to David if Mr. Slavin had critiqued his style. Music never died to David. That’s why David was a man after God’s own musical heart.