I think most people would agree that music can help us worship God more fully oftentimes. After all, if it didn’t, we’d just say prayers at church instead of putting them to music. Sometimes music can distract us, but hopefully it’s actually helping us worship God more truly.

This morning at church, the worship team led us in “Revelation Song,” one of my favorite current worship songs. I couldn’t help but notice the deaf section at the church as they were worshiping with us. As the music would pick up during each verse to lead us into the chorus, the whole congregation was “getting into it.” I noticed that the same was true for the deaf.

I assumed that they were taking cues from the rest of us, as they can’t hear anything. I watched as they signed more demonstratively, and more forcibly. I couldn’t help but think they have no clue how awesome this sounds, and imagined if all of a sudden they could actually hear what they are imagining in their own minds. I think I would rather be blind than deaf. To not be able to hear the sound of worship would be painful for me.

Then I thought–they may be worshiping more truly than we are. They probably assume that we are getting excited musically because of the words to the chorus, as they have don’t have a reference point for why we get excited by the music itself (since they wouldn’t understand how the sound of music moves us). They have no clue what a cymbal sounds like or a crescendo, etc. That’s when I realized that in their worship, the deaf people are probably getting excited over the words themselves:

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty
Who was and is and is to come
With all creation I sing praise to the King of Kings
You are my everything, and I will exalt You!”

That’s when I started to wonder–is the music really helping us worship God more truly? Perhaps we rely on the music to move us instead of the truths we are singing. I would love to see a congregation get moved by simply reciting the text of a song, and see people lift their hands and get emotional over simply the words. That would speak volumes to me that we really do have a true faith.