musical tree, creative people, american idol?

last weekend we opened our services of worship with this media. this incredibly creative guy got the idea to place microphones on the tree in his front yard, and record the different sounds it would produce. i'm not sure there's any sound more resonate than a human voice, but this tree certainly rocks out. it made me wonder how an american idol contestant would fare if they were competing with the tree for the judges feedback?

of course that question is completely ridiculous isn't it? i mean, we would never compare a tree's voice to a human voice...would we? i only ask because about every 3rd reality show has a "judgment" of some kind towards the end of the program, and A LOT of these shows have gotten pretty ridiculous about what's being judged, right? it's tough enough that we're watching person after person get judged for their beauty or lack thereof, but now we're judging everything from cooking, to fashion, to weight loss, to survival abilities, to scheming for power, to making money...and of course, we're judging people's singing ability.

and when i saw this video, though it reminded me of a scripture in the Psalms (which means 'sacred songs') Psalm 96:12-13, i never would have considered the verse that came after it...

12let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them.
Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy;

13they will sing before the LORD, for he comes,
he comes to judge the earth.
He will judge the world in righteousness
and the peoples in his truth.

how is a tree singing for joy being used as a comparison with God's judgment of "the peoples" of the earth? quick side note: that word righteousness comes from the hebrew word tzedek, which has connotations that one day God will come and re-order the broken world we live in, and make all things right.

maybe God is coming to judge the earth in truth and righteousness because He's the only One who can. He's the only One with the 50,000 foot perspective, the only One who isn't corrupt, isn't selfish, and is wholly good. if He's the only One who created all things and if He's the only One knows the core of all that He created intimately, then doesn't He know that there's a song of praise at the core of the trees He created? what's more, doesn't He also understand whether the same song of gratitude is at the core of our own hearts?

what's interesting is that this tree's core sings for joy "before the LORD (Yahweh)" even though it appears to us that it is silent (so long as the wind isn't blowing through it ;-). but ironically, even though most of us make tons of noise, and maybe even sing in the shower or in the car at full volume--so that we're almost never like a silent tree--not all of us sing a song of worship, as if we were "before Yahweh." and these scriptures suggest that God is less interested in how well we sing or even that we sing at all, but that at the core of us is a song of thanks to Him for creating us, for pursuing us everyday, for forgiving us in His Son Yeshua, and for His coming judgment that is perfect, clean, good and will one day make all things right.

ya know what i still don't fully get? why is singing a song of worship to God so important to Him? i mean, i get why we're called to have grateful hearts. but let's say we do, what's so important about us having a song of praise to Yahweh in our core? how is that somehow singing to God "makes things right"? how is it that our singing brings God's salvation to the world?