James 5:13 …Is any merry? let him sing psalms.
Every time I read this Scripture it leaps out at me. It doesn’t seem to fit the context of the chapter.
James begins chapter five with a scorching rebuke directed to rich farmers who were withholding the salaries of the workers who reaped their fields…Many of these workers were members of the church. He then encourages these same workers to be patient and trust God to bring vengeance to those who were defrauding them. Towards the latter part of the chapter James encourages the sick and afflicted to pray and seek prayer for their infirmities. He concludes with two verses encouraging the church to reach out to backslidden members.
Oppression…
Patience…
Sickness…
Restoring backsliders…
Inserted seemingly at random into these themes is an admonition for the merry to sing… Either James was simply expressing a wondering thought here…or he was being inspired by the Holy Ghost to say what he did. I choose to believe the latter!
It seems that merry expressions of worship are the catalyst for everything he was trying to communicate in this chapter. When the church is filled with jubilant expressions of praise, an atmosphere is created in which the downtrodden begin to hope again, the afflicted find relief, and wayward saints are convicted of their sin.
Worship should not be viewed as a prelude for more important things to follow. Our merry worship is in and of itself a powerful vehicle that brings deliverance to the afflicted. Just as David dispelled the evil spirits that tormented King Saul’s mind when he played and sang, the songs of merry saints bring a much needed respite for those tired, tormented, sick, and discouraged.