Could You Please Repeat That?

Have you ever wondered why people get so frustrated with repetitive contemporary worship? I once heard them called “7-11” songs because you sing the same line 11 times in the same song. At one time, I thought, “Maybe they’re right… maybe there shouldn’t be repetition… maybe it creates too much emotion and doesn’t engage the mind enough.” You know, that line of thinking. Well, today I read Psalm 150. Here it is, in full:

Praise the Lord!
Praise God in the sanctuary;
Praise Him in His mighty expanse.
Praise Him for His mighty deeds;
Praise Him according to His excellent greatness.
Praise Him with trumpet sound;
Praise Him with harp and lyre.
Praise Him with timbrel and dancing;
Praise Him with stringed instruments and pipe.
Praise Him with loud cymbals;
Praise Him with resounding cymbals.
Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.
Praise the Lord!

Now, I’m no mathematician, but that looks like the same basic phrase 13 times. I mean, couldn’t the psalmist have just said, “Praise the Lord in many ways?” Or, “Praise the Lord with variety, with trumpets, with cymbals, with electric guitars, with harps, too, for all you classical-music types?” Why go to the trouble of repeating “praise Him/the Lord/God” 13 times? Isn’t that a waste of ink? Don’t you think we get the picture? We don’t need such mindless repetition! We’re creatures of intellect. You don’t have to dumb down worship for us. We get the idea!

Then, my mind wanders back to the doctrine of the Word of God, remembering that every word is inspired. The Holy Spirit allowed the personality of the man to get expressed under God’s sovereign control of the teaching, the grammar, the words themselves. That means these words aren’t mistakes… he’s not just going on and on… he’s saying something. Though it seems like the CD is skipping (sorry iPod generation), it’s not. These words are on purpose - but what purpose? Why does he do this? Two hymns come to mind… maybe they can help us understand repetition.

O for a thousand tongues to sing my great Redeemer’s praise! The glories of my God and King, the triumphs of His grace.

O, For a Thousand Tongues to Sing

If we had a thousand tongues and sang for all eternity, we could never express the vast worthiness of God for all our praise. It’s not in vain that the psalmist repeats the phrase… it’s because He knows a praiseworthy God… a God so worthy of praise that it should be said early, and often… Praise the Lord!

Could we with ink the ocean fill, and were the skies of parchment made. Were every stalk on earth a quill, and every man a scribe by trade; To write the love of God above would drain the ocean dry; Nor could the scroll contain the whole, though stretched from sky to sky”

“The Love of God”, verse 2

What a beautiful picture: if the ocean were ink, and all of us sat down with our quills to write about the great love of God that has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit (Rom. 5:5), we’d run out of ink, parchment, and life before we adequately described it. A God whose love is that great is certainly worthy of our praise. Not singular praise, but repetitive praise… praise that goes on forever and ever.

Do you remember John’s vision of the throne and the four living creatures in Revelation 4? Do you remember what they said? “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was and is and is to come” (v. 8). Do you remember how many times they said it? “Day and night they do not cease.” Looks like repetition to me!

So, my friends, go to church this weekend, and don’t be saddened if you repeat a phrase four times. Be saddened if your heart doesn’t echo worship to God each time your lips utter words of praise. Remember, the early church “kept feeling a sense of awe.” Keep singing, and keep feeling a sense of awe. God is worth it!