The Song of the Righteous

Last night I was thrilled to be able to attend the Piano Guys concert in Salt Lake City with my wife and two oldest children.  I especially appreciated the earnest encouragement that the cello player, Steven Nelson, gave to the youth in the audience who were learning instruments.  He spoke about the challenges of practicing an instrument and the temptation that easily comes to quit because it is hard.  Earnestly encouraging them to stick with practicing, he told them that if they would persevere, eventually the time would come when they were playing their instrument that they would feel like they were flying.  Having spent countless hours in my youth practicing the piano, and having felt at moments an exhilaration playing the songs I worked so hard to master, I think I understand exactly what he meant. 

We know of course from the Doctrine and Covenants that the Lord “delighteth in the song of the heart” and that “the song of the righteous is a prayer unto [Him]” (D&C 25:12).  I’ve generally thought of this in terms of singing hymns in Sacrament Meeting or in some other religious meeting. Certainly this is at least part of what the Lord meant, but I think it extends as well to all of those who labor for endless hours mastering good music on their instruments.  Surely that “song” that is finally polished and performed can constitute that person’s most sincere prayer to the Lord.  We know, as the Bible Dictionary states (and many scriptures confirm), that “Prayer is a form of work and is an appointed means for obtaining the highest of all blessings.”  Surely the sacrifice that a musician puts forth to master a great work of music is a kind of work, and that makes the “prayer” offered all the more powerful in my opinion.  Instead of that prayer being a 30 second quick thought pointed at the Lord, the prayers of the righteous musician are sometimes years in the making.  Perhaps this is one of the reasons why music can have such a powerful feeling that accompanies it so often.  Just as prayers that have more thought and effort put into them are likely to be answered more readily by the Lord, I believe that the musician’s “prayer” of music is answered with the Spirit so often and so powerfully perhaps because so much effort and preparation has been put forth in it.  If one prepared spiritually for a verbal prayer as much as one often prepares to share a song-based prayer, I think we would have significantly greater spiritual experiences through prayer. 

I once heard someone describe music as the “electricity of the spirit.”  For me this certainly has been my experience—with some of my own most meaningful spiritual experiences coming with music or directly because of it—and perhaps we should give more recognition to the time and effort that goes into these prayers of the righteous that take the form of music.  Great blessing of the Lord—including the blessing of His Spirit—come because of righteous music: “The Lord will command his lovingkindness in the daytime, and in the night his song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life” (Psalm 42:8).  To experience that kind of prayer, where "his song" and "his lovingkindness" are with us, is indeed like flying.