Mar
25
2025
Singing Off Key
Posted in Worship 2 Comments
I settled myself down to get ready for worship.
I knew that within minutes, the singing would begin.
For the next thirty minutes, songs would be sung that would point my heart towards Jesus.
I am grateful to the ones who play their instruments and use their voices to lead us in worship.
There are some who raise their hands as they sing.
There are some who sway just a bit along to the music.
There have even been times when I have seen worship songs signed for those who are deaf.
There are some who never sing at all.
It is so beautiful to hear the way people harmonize so naturally.
I hear people sing an octave lower to accommodate their vocal range.
I love to see couples holding hands during worship.
I enjoy watching small children as they look at their parents and learn so much by example.
I was singing the songs and heard her.
She was somewhere behind me.
She was not singing an octave lower or higher.
She was not singing in the same key at all.
She was not timid about her voice.
She was not singing quietly, as if to hide the fact that she was singing off tune.
She was singing her heart out.
She was singing her heart out to the Lord.
And it was so beautiful.
I never turned to see the woman.
Knowing who she was, didn’t matter to me.
I could see her in my mind’s eye.
She was singing loudly and off key.
Yet it was the epitome of worship.
She was not singing to the crowd.
She was singing to Him, the audience of One.
Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth!
Serve the Lord with gladness!
Come into His presence with singing!
Know that the Lord, He is God!
It is He who made us, and we are His;
we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture.
Enter His gates with thanksgiving,
and His courts with praise!
Give thanks to Him; bless His name!
For the Lord is good;
His steadfast love endures forever,
and His faithfulness to all generations.
(Psalm 100:1-5)
God the Father wants worshipers.
He is not looking for perfection.
He is not listening for only those who sing on key.
God the Father is looking for those who worship Him in spirit and truth.
“Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” (John 4:21-24)
Jesus made it clear, when he talked to the Samaritan woman at the well.
There is a kind of worship the Father seeks.
Spirit filled worship.
Truth-filled worship.
That kind of worship happens when we are in Christ.
Our singing voices may vary.
We may sing on key or off key.
However, to the Father, who sees the heart, the worship is perfect.
We worship with our voices, our bodies, and our minds.
We worship with the work of our hands.
We worship with every ounce of our being.
God wants all of us; not perfection, but willingness.
How I loved the off key singing I heard behind me.
The Holy Spirit turns our groans into prayers that are acceptable to the Father.
How much more will the Holy Spirit turn our feeble voices into glorious praise?
Come to the Father with your little bit; it will feed and nourish the multitudes.
I love hearing Frank belt out, off tune, in the shower worship songs. It makes my heart leap with joy! You express in words what I feel and observe so many times. Thank you Gina.
Nancy, Frank’s singing in the shower is worship that pleases the Father’s heart. I love the fact that you enjoy him singing off key! It’s the heart that God sees. What a blessing!
Gina