Music

Exodus 15:1-2 -  Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the LORD, saying, "I will sing to the LORD, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea.  The LORD is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father's God, and I will exalt him. 

The people had just watched the entire army of Pharaoh drowned before their eyes.  The fear they felt before God opened up a way through the huge sea that trapped them turned into pure joy as they processed what God had just done. They were so happy that they broke out in song….a song that declared their thankfulness to God for all that he had done. Their Song was a lengthy one…declaring praise…exalting the Lord…expressing their love ….in words and in dance.

Oh how I understand this way of worshiping the Lord….for I love to sing to the Lord. It melts my darkest mood….and dresses me with a new strength…it causes me to reflect on just how great my God is….and how he loves me so much. This expression of love and thanks ushers in the presence of God to every church service I attend….fills my home with his presence as I do my daily chores…even makes any commute in my car melt away any threats or unhappiness that Satan has tried to place in my brain. And as God comes into my heart to replace Satan’s ugliness with his love…I am renewed in his presence. Something precious invades my heart…and fills it with an insatiable need to have more of God than I am able to hold….until it bubbles over in pure joy and thanksgiving.

My mind is thinking of others in God’s great book that used music to help them worship. The young David learned to use his harp to sooth the rattled sheep in the pasture…and after he grew….he used his music to chase away the demons of King Saul (I Samuel 16:14-23). Paul and Silas found strength from singing hymns at midnight…as they sat in prison…chained for preaching the gospel (Acts 16:24-25). And Jesus himself sang hymns with the disciples …as he gathered the strength to complete the task his father had sent him to Earth for…as he left the Mount of Olives…where he had spent the better part of the night praying for direction(Matthew 26:30 and Mark 14:26).

I must add a paragraph of caution…for Satan knows music’s power as well.  Guard your ears and heart from listening to music that Satan has created to sway your heart to his side. So much of the music that is created today has become controlled by Satan…and he uses it to dump profanity…inappropriate sexual references…and unwholesome thoughts into our brains and hearts. Even some of the older music I love to listen to is borderline….so I mostly listen to K-love….or Air1…or CD’s of my favorite gospel or contemporary groups. For just as Satan can use music to twist our thinking…or plant evil in our hearts …God can use music to build me up…to strengthen me…or soothe me.

Oh father …how I thank you for music. I thank you that you created this amazing way to talk to you…and for you to talk to us. I praise you and exalt you above all things for all you have done for me….and I sing to you as I do some nights…as I lay my head down…. “ Bless the Lord ..oh my soul..and all that is within me…bless your holy name!” Amen…Let it be so!