Never hear the rocks!
There’s a story in the bible whereby people are praising Jesus and the religious leaders tell Jesus to tell them to stop. Jesus tells them that if the people are silent, the very stones or the rocks will cry out (Luke 19:37-40).
This song is all about praising God. We won’t hear the rocks cry out, no one will because we as a church will keep praising; we will keep singing out.
This song also talks about the power of praise.
‘Battles are won when we raise our hands’. In Exodus 17:8-13 the Israelites were in battle. When Moses’ hands were raised up they would prevail ie they were winning. When his hands were lowered the other side prevailed.
When we lift our hands up to God, when we praise Him He fights our battles and we have victory. We can praise and thank God in advance for things knowing that He will come through.
‘Captives are freed when we shout out praise’. In Acts 16:22-34 there is a story about Paul and Silas. They were put in prison and the bible says that they prayed and sang praises to God. The passage of scripture also says that the others in prison with them were listening. As a result there was an earthquake that caused the prison doors to open and everyone’s chains to fall off. The power of praise! Not only were people freed physically but there was freedom from sin. As we praise God in our daily activities, others can see and hear and be impacted by this. They can be freed, they can be saved.
‘Go in His name and giants will fall’. The story of David and Goliath. In 1 Samuel 17:45 David says “You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have taunted.’’
David was victorious not in His own strength but because He went in the name of the Lord.
There can be giants, obstacles in our way but they can fall, they can move, they can be destroyed when we rely on God and not ourselves. Someone once told me that there are some battles we fight on our knees. It can be hard as we want to be able to control things and work it out ourselves but we need to trust and rely on God.
And there’s more- the story of Joshua and Jericho, God inhabiting the praises of His people… There’s power when we praise and God is deserving of our praise so let’s keep those rocks silent!