By Ashley Blavatt

I always have a song in my head. I do not know how common it is for anyone else. But whenever someone asks me what I am thinking, the first thing I am aware of is the song that was just playing. “Walking in the jungle, walking in the jungle. We’re not afraid. We’re not afraid.” Or “I will sing of the goodness of God!” There is a huge variety of genres in my head and who knows when one song will go out and another  will enter! 

There are many other thoughts that run through my head daily. I could even call them songs because many of them are repeated refrains. Criticisms of things I see or read. Judgments of my husband or toddler or friend. Complaints about my feelings or circumstances. These choruses can get stuck if I am not careful to identify them as sinful thoughts and replace them with something else. But what else? 

The Psalms are a collection of songs. We can think of it as the hymnbook of the Jews. They actually sang a lot of these! And they talk about singing, too. Psalm 40:3 says, “He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God.” That might be a good thing to replace my criticism, judgment, or complaining with. A hymn of praise to our God! Psalm 47:6-7 says, “Sing praise to God, sing praise; sing praise to our King, sing praise! Sing a song of wisdom, for God is King of all the earth.” God is the King of all the earth. He is King over my feelings, circumstances, and people in my life. The psalmists are giving us some ideas of what we should be filling our minds with. Psalm 96 is full of praise to the King. Psalm 98 tells us to look to creation to get an idea of how to praise. 

Isaiah 12:2 says, “Indeed, God is my salvation; I will trust Him and not be afraid, for Yah, the Lord, is my strength and my song. He has become my salvation.” The Lord is my song. Instead of singing the song of complaint, judgment, or criticism, sing a song of praise to the Lord. He has rescued us from slavery to destructive thoughts and given us the freedom in the Spirit to worship in every circumstance — all day long. 

Look to the Bible’s hymnbook and fill your mind with songs of praise to King Jesus. “Ascribe to the Lord, you families of the peoples, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. Ascribe to Yahweh the glory of His name; bring an offering and enter His courts. Worship the Lord in the splendor of His holiness; tremble before Him, all the earth” (Psalm 96:7-9).