Michael Sharp, Ph.D.
Provided by CN Building Adult Ministries Resource Center
As each year passes and we add more candles to the cake, I’m beginning to realize that age just might have an effect on some things in life. As a young boy, and even as a young man in my twenties, I was blessed with a small degree of acrobatic ability. Turning a series of handsprings or walking on my hands were everyday activities and great outlets for my energetic youth. Believe it or not, during graduate school I was able to use those skills to earn a part-time income performing singing-telegrams as a gorilla who could turn flips! I know that is hard to picture for anyone who knows me now. Like I said, the ageing process does change some things. I wouldn’t dare to try a handspring these days for fear of injuring myself or someone else. Thankfully, when it comes to gymnastics, I know my limitations!
On the other hand, there are some things that actually improve with age. Despite our culture’s obsession with the glories of youthfulness, certain aspects of life find increasingly meaningful expression across the spectrum of a person’s life. I think this is true regarding one’s ever-deepening walk with Christ. As the journey progresses, so does our capacity to behold the wonders of God’s mighty works. A spiritual history of seeing God provide year after year gives rise to a deepening faith, and a growing catalog of personal testimonies. This is true for mature believers in our day, and I think this was true as well for Miriam, the Bible’s original praise team leader, who, incidentally, played a mean tambourine.
We first encounter Miriam in the pages of the Bible as she watched her mother place her three-month-old baby brother Moses in a tiny basket and hide him among the reeds near the bank of the Nile River. When Moses was discovered by an Egyptian princess, it was Miriam who ran to ask if she could find a nursemaid for the baby. Soon she was able to help her mother care for her baby brother in their very own home.
Miriam is not mentioned again in Scripture until the Exodus event. But we know that she had experienced a lot during her life. She had watched her little brother leave home to live in the Egyptian palace. As a Hebrew, she had undoubtedly suffered with her people in Egyptian bondage during the forty-or-so years Moses was in Midian. But she also experienced one of the greatest rescue efforts ever—God’s delivery of the children of Israel from Egyptian slavery. Miriam had certainly seen a lot over the years of her life.
We know that Moses was around eighty years old at the time of the Exodus, and that would mean that Miriam was probably pushing ninety. But her age certainly did not hinder her from being actively engaged in praising the Lord. Living within the incredible miracle of crossing the Red Sea on dry ground, and seeing those same waters swallow the Egyptian army, Miriam’s heart overflowed with a song of praise. She and Moses sang the first praise-song recorded in the Bible, and it is a testimony to God’s power and greatness. Miriam couldn’t help but praise God from head to toe. With the pulsing rhythm of the tambourine in hand, with the joyous melody of the song, and with harmonious dance movements, Miriam led the women of the Hebrew nation in a chorus of all-out praise. Ninety or not, the testimony of God’s greatness went ninety to nothing!
The praise began by singing of what God had done:
I will sing to the Lord, for he is highly exalted. The horse and its rider he has hurled into the sea. The Lord is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him. (Exodus 15:1-2 NIV)
It continued with lyrics about the greatness of Almighty God who, in his mercy, had rescued them:
Who among the gods is like you, O Lord? Who is like you— majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders? (Exodus 15:11 NIV)
And the song pulsated with a faithful confidence in what God would continue doing in the future:
In your unfailing love you will lead the people you have redeemed. In your strength you will guide them to your holy dwelling. The nations will hear and tremble…By the power of your arm they will be as still as a stone— until your people pass by, O Lord, until the people you bought pass by. You will bring them in and plant them on the mountain of your inheritance— the place, O Lord, you made for your dwelling, the sanctuary, O Lord, your hands established. The Lord will reign for ever and ever. (Exodus 15:13-14a; 16b-18 NIV)
Interesting fact: the focus of the praise was not about a style and it was not about a form. It was about a relationship and a reality—a relationship with a loving God who had shown himself strong on behalf of his people as he rescued them in their distress. It was a testimony of his mighty power and faithfulness. When Miriam experienced the reality, a song of praise inevitably bubbled out of her ninety-year-old mouth:
Sing to the LORD, for he is highly exalted. The horse and its rider he has hurled into the sea. (Exodus 15:21 NIV)
Who’s too old to worship? Who’s too old to praise the Lord? Not Miriam. She would probably agree that being ninety brought an even deeper dimension to her ability to extol the greatness of the Lord. Every passing year brought an exciting new stanza to add to the tambourine-song about God’s goodness.
This article was excerpted from 52 Worshipers: Weekly Devotionals for Worship Leaders
