Let God Write Your Song

Ephesians 5:20

Giving thanks always for all things unto God

and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;

I was reading a short devotion this week that grabbed my attention because of its reference to music.

I love music. I love singing. I love playing. I love listening to music. I can’t even imagine a world without music.

Music is often how I express my worship to God. Through playing or singing praises to Him, I am drawn into a different place. A place of peace. A place of comfort. A place of rest. I am able to sing praise to God, giving him the glory and exalting his name as I raise my voice to him.

Music has great power and anyone who disagrees is delusional or in denial. Music has power to harm or heal. Sorry, but facts are facts. And if you don’t believe me, then read your Bible! There are so many times that music and singing are mentioned in the Bible. (Take a look at the story of King Saul, for example, and see the effect that music had on him)

1 Samuel 16:23 KJV - And it came to pass, when the evil spirit from God was upon Saul, that David took an harp, and played with his hand: so Saul was refreshed, and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him.

The word music (or musick, as it is spelt in the KJV) is mentioned 16 times. Sing – 119 times; singing – 29 times; sang – 12 times; sung – 5 times. And then of course we could move onto the forms of the words praise and play.

But I’m not here to give you a long discourse on the etymology of words. Not today anyway.

(Just a quick side note though, did you know that God sings? Food for thought for those who don’t agree that singing words of praise is an important form of worship)

Zephaniah 3:17 - The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing.

Okay, back to my little devotional reading that led me down this path of thinking on music. (It doesn’t take very much to send me down that track!)

Read through it with me.

“We once saw a man draw some black dots. We looked and could make nothing of them but an irregular assemblage of black dots. Then he drew a few lines, put in a few rests, then a clef at the beginning, and we saw these black dots were musical notes. On sounding them we were singing,

“Praise God from whom all blessings flow, 
Praise Him all creatures here below.” 

There are many black dots and black spots in our lives, and we cannot understand why they are there or why God permitted them to come. But if we let God come into our lives, and adjust the dots in the proper way, and draw the lines He wants, and separate this from that, and put in the rests at the proper places; out of the black dots and spots in our lives He will make a glorious harmony. Let us not hinder Him in this glorious work!” —C. H. P.

 

Do you sometimes question God as to why he puts all the black dots in our lives? We look at our circumstances, and we can’t make head nor tail of them. Nothing God is doing seems to make sense. But maybe it’s because all we’re seeing is little black dots. We’re not seeing the big picture.

God doesn’t always allow us to see the birds eye view. But when he takes his pen, and begins to join the dots, draw in the lines, place the rests in their proper place, add the treble and bass clefs, maybe a few little triplets and pauses too, something beautiful happens. Harmonies begin to be heard and life starts to make sense. The ‘aha’ moment comes. At last, we begin to hear the music.

God’s melodies are so much more beautiful than anything we could ever write. If we wrote the music for our lives, we would forever write in major keys. There would be no minor keys, no discordant notes, no long pauses.

But God knows that we need minor keys as well as major ones. Those times our lives are playing a minor song are times of growth. Many a tremendous difficulty has been turned into a great victory and God’s named has been magnificently glorified. Those times in the darkness, as we sing our sad laments, we are drawn closer to him as we cry out to him and he reveals himself to us and shows us, by his power, what only he can do.

The long pauses, the discordant notes are all part of God’s plan in our lives. He knows what we need to go through in order to purify us and make us more like him.

God has to touch all the keys to make the music of our lives. He wants to make a glorious melody of praise, and the ups and downs of our lives contribute to the song that he writes.

Allow God to write the music. Don’t stay his hand when he adds in a minor part. Don’t rush forward when he places a rest in a particular place. Sit still and wait when the pauses come. When you hear a discordant chord, look around for the lesson he is trying to teach you.

Let God join the little black dots and form them into something beautiful. Let him write your song. And sing your song of praise to him. Joyfully. Exuberantly. Continually. Loudly. Cheerfully.

“out of the black dots and spots in our lives He will make a glorious harmony.                    Let us not hinder Him in this glorious work!”

“Would we know that the major chords were sweet, 
If there were no minor key? 
Would the painter’s work be fair to our eyes, 
Without shade on land or sea? 

“Would we know the meaning of happiness, 
Would we feel that the day was bright, 
If we’d never known what it was to grieve, 
Nor gazed on the dark of night?”