Moses The Songwriter

The One Year Bible has been a great tool for keeping my spiritual life focused. I am in the last chapters of Deuteronomy and was blown away to read that Moses had a songwriting champion - God!

One of the last commands God gave Moses before he died was to write a song!

Yesterday I had a conversation with a songwriter about assignment writing and here in Deuteronomy God gives Moses a songwriting assignment:

"Now write down for yourselves this song and teach it to the Israelites and have them sing it, so that it may be a witness for me against them...So Moses wrote down this song that day and taught it to the Israelites." Deuteronomy 31:19,22

How many times have we heard people say "God gave me this song"? One of my favorite responses to this statement was by Regie Hamm who said "I've heard God write better"!

But here Moses is transcribing a song directly from the lips of God so he could legitimately say God gave him the song!

The primary purpose of the song was to serve as reminder to the descendants of Israel of God's faithfulness and his deliverance.

A side note: one of the elements of a great song is the use of drama or conflict and this song of Moses' is plum full of it! Check out the song Deuteronomy 32:1-43.

"Moses came with Joshua son of Nun and spoke all the words of this song in the hearing of the people. When Moses finished reciting all these words to all Israel, he said to them "Take to heart all the words I have solemnly declared to you this day, so that you may command your children to obey carefully all the words of this law. They are not just idle words for you - they are your life. By them you will live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess." Deuteronomy 32:44-47

I know that this is an understatement but I am continually amazed at the power of a song to impact lives!

My husband has been in Haiti on a missions trip and went to church in Port-au-Prince on Easter Sunday and they sang "God Of This City" written by Aaron Boyd of Bluetree. The lyric of that song certainly takes on a whole new significance in the context of the devastation of the earthquake on the city of Port-au-Prince!

While my husband was worshiping in Haiti on Easter I was at the Tennessee Prison for Women leading worship for their Easter sunrise service and my four nieces Kayitesi, Marlo, Ukyeye and Christine brought special music to the 500 plus inmates. They sang an a capella version of the 2nd Chapter of Acts classic "Easter Song" written by Annie Herring. Seeing the words of that song penetrate the hearts of the prisoners was another reminder of the POWER of a song.

What a privilege it is to participate in the creative work of God! It is one of my life's greatest joys to encourage songwriters in their passion for writing songs and to help them be stewards of their gifts!