Joyful Noises
Back in 1965, you could pay $2,900 for an Oldsmobile Cutlass and end up with a pretty sweet ride right out of the box. If you wanted a few options, Olds had you covered. A side mirror cost $4 – fairly important. The “Anti Spin Axle” differential cost $43 – vitally important with a 345-horsepower 400-cube pushrod V8 (in 4-4-2 trim) and 1960s tire technology. Yet even more expensive, at $63, was the radio. Yes, $63 for two little speakers playing your favorite songs through an AM radio.
Playing music in the car has always been important because music itself has always been important.
Throughout the Bible, God’s people express their gratitude, wonder, reverence, requests, and thanks to God through music. Some of the most carefully structured passages in the Bible are songs designed for regular group worship. Some of the most visceral expressions of raw emotion are expressed through extemporaneous singing as if pitch and meter codify and validate the musician’s deepest feelings.
Music is important to God. It’s so important, in fact, that when he brought his people through the Red Sea, he guided Moses and Miriam to sing (Exodus 15). In the hectic days of the early Church, he guided Paul to encourage new believers to “speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs” (Ephesians 5:19).
David composed a song after God saved him from assassination (Psalm 57). David personified his own musical instruments, the harp and lyre, and vowed to “awaken the dawn” as he began this new day. After spending the night in fear, he was ready to face the new day in victory.
The Psalmist instructed worshipers to “praise the Lord and make music to your name, O Most High” (Psalm 92), using the most advanced instruments of the time (the ten-stringed lyre) to express wonder and awe toward God, whose works are great and whose thoughts are “profound.”
Then, in Psalm 148, God the Creator spoke through his instrument, humankind, to orchestrate a symphony of praise from all things that bear the fingerprints of God:
“Praise him, you highest heavens and you waters above the skies. Let them praise the name of the Lord, for he commanded and they were created. He set them in place for ever and ever; he gave a decree that will never pass away. Praise the Lord from the earth, you great sea creatures and all ocean depths, lightning and hail, snow and clouds, stormy winds that do his bidding, you mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars, wild animals and all cattle, small creatures and flying birds, kings of the earth and all nations, you princes and all rulers on earth, young men and maidens, old men and children.” (Psalm 148:4-12)
Maybe this is a practice that should continue in cars today. When you sing a song in church thanking God for all things, mentally picture your car or your dream car – let’s be honest, it was probably already on your mind. Then take it further. Commit your car to the service of praising God by taking it to church and maybe picking someone up on the way. Bring along some praise music on your smart phone, a CD, tape, or 8-track. Whether you have two speakers or 22, praise the Lord.
Then take it even further. Consider your car not as a man-made collection of nuts and bolts separate from God’s created world, but an instrument consecrated by God and bearing his fingerprints as he placed it in your empty hands and encouraged you to praise him with it. If lightning and wild animals can praise God, perhaps a mid-size muscle car can do the same.
Oldsmobile’s 4-4-2 was a separate model from 1966-1971, but at its introduction in 1964 “4-4-2” meant a performance package (that started life as the B-09 Police Apprehender Pursuit Package) that could be combined with any trim level. You could get into a Cutlass for around $2,700 (or a convertible for $2,900) or spend as much as $3,300 before options. Even if your radio was lousy – or nonexistent – you could mat the loud pedal and “make a joyful noise to the Lord” (Psalm 100:1).
