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Ready to Worship Season 7, Episode 10 for Friday, April 27, 2018
On this season of Ready to Worship, we are examining songs that help to prepare our minds for worship. In this episode, we are examining the song, Tell Me the Old, Old Story. I don’t know if you have ever noticed it or not, but the song provides three alliterated points. How awesome is that? We are going to let the songwriter’s points be our points in this podcast. We are to tell the old, old story simply, slowly, and softly.
Episode Transcript
On this season of Ready to Worship, we are examining songs that help to prepare our minds for worship. In this episode, we are examining the song, Tell Me the Old, Old Story.
I don’t know if you have ever noticed it or not, but the song provides three alliterated points. How awesome is that? We are going to let the songwriter’s points be our points in this podcast.
First, Tell Me the Old, Old Story Simply. Although God’s ways are past finding out, the story of the gospel is not (Rom. 11:33). The story is simple. It is the story “of Jesús and His love.” Does this not remind you of the children’s song, Jesús Loves Me? It does me. The simple message of that children’s song is consistent with the plea in the first verse: “Tell me the story simply, as to a little child.” God wants our worship and the message that fills it to be simple. To the saints at Corinth, Paul wrote, “For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly to you-ward” (2 Cor. 1:12). Paul did not come to the saints at Corinth with “fleshly wisdom.” He came with simplicity and sincerity. Hypocrisy and worldly wisdom only make the message of the gospel harder for men to receive.
Second, Tell Me the Old, Old Story Slowly. I grew up in farming country. I remember farmers talking about how they needed a good, slow rain. They didn’t want a fast rain. After all, most of that would run off and do little good. They needed a slow rain that would soak into the soil. In like manner, the song pleads, “Tell me the story slowly, That I may take it in.” Sometimes, I’m afraid that we get into a hurry with the old, old story. I think that one of the reasons why we get into a hurry is because we already know the story. We have known it for years. After all, it is an old, old story. However, there are at least a couple of reasons why we should slow down as we tell it anew. First, we should tell it slowly because some have never heard it. For some, it is a new story. Second, we should tell it slowly because men may have forgotten it. The song pleads, “Tell me the story often, For I forget so soon: The ‘early dew’ of morning Has passed away at noon.” God does not want us to get into a hurry in worship or in telling the old, old story. We need to do it slowly. We must give it time to soak in. To Timothy, Paul wrote, “And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will” ( 2Tim. 2:24-26). We are to be gentle and to teach with patience. In the fourth chapter, he would write, “Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine” (2 Tim. 4:2). We are to be longsuffering in our preaching.
Third, Tell Me the Old, Old Story Softly. The third verse begins, “Tell me the story softly, With earnest tones and grave.” The old, old story doesn’t need to be shouted. Love stories seldom do. The old, old story should be spoken softly and with great reverence. Moses described the softness befitting the doctrine or teaching of God in the book of Deuteronomy. He wrote, “Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth. My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass” (Deut. 32:1-2). There is a softness that goes with telling the old, old story, and with gathering for worship. Habakkuk declared, “But the Lord is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him” (Hab. 2:20).
As we get Ready to Worship this week, let’s think about the story of Jesús and His love. Let’s tell the old, old story simply, slowly, and softly that all may take it in.
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