Q. I love music but I hear it’s ungodly. Didn’t God create music? Some churches sing so mournfully but I can’t believe God wants sad worship. Then I read what Rick Warren says in his book, “God loves all kinds of music because he invented it all – fast and slow, loud and soft, old and new!” Do you agree? Help, I’m confused!
A. Music does come from God, and He created man with an ability to create and enjoy it. But the devil has stolen a lot of what God created as good, to use for his evil purposes – namely to lure us away from serving and worshiping the Lord. And music is one of the things he has stolen – when God intended it to be used for His honour and pleasure.
We’ve ruined the perfect world God created for us through our sinning and rebellion against Him. Instead, without even knowing it often, man has been caught up in the devil’s wickedness to the point that he is serving Satan’s evil intents. The devil is called “the god of this world”, 2 Cor 11:4, and “the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience” Eph 2:2.
Music is one of the most powerful influences in our society, and the god of this world clearly inspires wicked men to create music to satisfy their ungodly lusts. In Dan 3 the king demands the worship of his statue under the influence of music. If “the whole world lieth in wickedness”, 1 Jn 5:19, what does that say about the world’s music? As it has every other thing, Man’s wickedness has corrupted music.
Slow music or fast, some churches choose the former and some the latter; neither is, in itself, spiritual or carnal; it’s all a matter of what you do with it. If you are truly worshipping the Lord, as He desires, and you are drawn closer to Him, or inspired to respond to His Word, that’s great.
Be wary, though, of mere emotional stimulation because this invariably leads to lustful, evil, dangerous and even malicious intent. It’s significant that Ezek 28:13 suggests that one of the glories in Lucifer, that filled his heart with pride and rebellion against God, was the music that was created into his very being.