When in Doubt, Sing it Out

When in Doubt, Sing it Out

By Grant Gaines

What do you do when you’re nervous? Take a look at this list of the top tendencies that people do when they are nervous and see if any of your nervous habits make the cut: biting your fingernails, avoiding eye contact with others, smoking, over eating, popping your knuckles, grinding your teeth, rushed speech, tapping your foot, touching or twirling your hair, and finally, laughing or giggling¹.

Well, how did you do? Are you a nail bitter or a knuckle popper? Maybe the better question is not what do you do when times are tough, but what should you do when the creek waters starts rising? The answer to that question is given to us in Matthew 26 as we look at the life of our ultimate Example-Jesus-and how He handled stress.

In Matthew 26 Jesus is in a little bit of a stressful situation. Your probably know the feeling-having one of your best friends betray you, your other best friends desert you when you needed them the most, having the world humiliate you, to be unjustly beaten, mocked, and scorned for something you didn’t do, and to know the looming pain of complete separation from your God and Father as you are brutally crucified on a Roman cross for sins you didn’t even commit. Oh wait, you don’t know the feeling? Come to think of it, neither do I!

And while we may not know the exact feelings of Christ in this situation, I think it’s safe to agree that Jesus was a bit nervous. So what did He do in this situation? Did He start biting His nails, wringing His hands, or popping His knuckles? Strike one, two, and three!

In this difficult time we don’t see Jesus doing any of these nervous habits, but rather Matthew 26:30 (NIV) reveals that after Jesus and His disciples had finished with the last supper they, “…sung a hymn [and] went out to the Mount of Olives.”

I don’t know about you but that sounds like a really bad time to pull out an iPod and start jamming out to your favorite tunes, doesn’t it? But Jesus wasn’t rocking out to just any old song, He was singing a worship hymn. He was singing to remind Himself of the One who powerfully holds all things together through the authority of His Word (Hebrews 1:3). He was singing to remind Himself of the loving Father who is faithful to complete the good work He has begun in us (Philippians 1:6). And He was singing to take His mind off of His problems and to focus on His God.

Did His singing result in His circumstances changing? No. Did the pain of humiliation, betrayal, and death lessen? No. But Jesus was able to face the lot that God had laid before Him with such incredible peace that His calm demeanor even flustered those who were trying to put Him to death (Matthew 27:12-14). His song stilled His soul to the point that while, “…He was oppressed and afflicted, yet He did not open his mouth; He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He did not open his mouth” (Isaiah 53:7, NIV).

The Old Testament patriarch Job did a similar thing when he found himself in a pickle. You do remember Job’s circumstances, don’t you? Job was the man who lost everything in one fell swoop-his family, his wealth, his house, his land, his friends, and his health (Job 1-2). This is the background of Job’s situation when Job 1:20-21 (NIV, bold mine) records that immediately after learning of these horrific circumstances, “… Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship and said: ‘Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised.'”

Both Job and Christ knew 2,000 years ago what scientist at the National Institute of Health recently discovered that singing or listening to the right kind of music has the unique ability to slow our heartrate, calm our breathing, and dissolve our nerves².

With that being said, the next time you find yourself in a stressful situation do yourself a favor and take your nails out of your mouth, give your swollen knuckles a rest, and put down the bowl of Blue Bell ice cream and start singing praises to the Lord.

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