No Doubt About It - His Love Endures Forever! (Psalm 136) Series

MAKING MUSIC FROM SHARPS AND FLATS IN LIFE

Sermons Based on Selected Psalms

Psalms Sermon XIII – Psalm 136

David the shepherd lad who became King of Israel was a music maker. He played a harp – the most popular instrument in Old Testament times. The Book of Psalms is a collection of his compositions inspired by both his life experiences and his majestic moments with the Lord God.

As a sheep herder, the boy David became fascinated with the wonders of the out of doors even as he became familiar with the uniqueness of sheep.

As the one chosen by Samuel to be crowned the next king of Israel, David had no choice but to sharpen his defensive battle skills when Saul threatened his life; he had demonstrated his skills as a shepherd lad when he defended his sheep from the attack of wolves, and when he defended his family by killing their enemy Goliath with one stone fired by his slingshot.

David’s favor with God and the people worsened King Saul’s insanity, making him so blindly jealous that he made David the target of a relentless campaign to destroy the king-to-be.

David won the battle; but, more importantly, he won the hearts of the people because he had won the heart of the Lord God who had chosen him.

As king, David ruled righteously in accordance with God’s will; Israel enjoyed the golden years of their history during David’s reign.

Yet, as a man, David sinned; however, as a sinner, he was aware of his need for God’s forgiveness; as a forgiven child of God, he courageously accepted God’s punishment; as one who suffered the consequence of sinning against God, he also accepted the challenge of rebuilding his life for God.

As a Psalmist, David’s innermost thoughts - expressed in the verses of his poetry - have become the greatest collection of spiritual nuggets the world has ever known.

From a lifetime of positive and negative experiences, David has become our hero for making music out of the sharps and flats in life.

Any musician knows that it takes both to make good music. It takes the positives (the sharps) and the negatives (the flats). Arrange them in such a way that they blend into chords, orchestrate the chords into a harmonious melody, and what you get is a work of art that is pleasing to the ear.

Life is like that. The isolated sound of a sharp or the lonesome sound of a flat does nothing for the spirit. Get it all together in conformity with THE Great Composer’s divine plan for our lives, and what you have is harmonious living that is pleasing not only to God but to others as well.

These devotional messages, based on the Book of Psalms, are intended to draw from David’s orchestration of the sharps and flats in his life to help us make music from the sharps and flats in our own lives. Selah.

Psalm 136 . . .

In my lifetime alone, parts of the world have gone through more wars than you can count on two hands. As far back as history can be traced, history books including the Old Testament are filled with accounts of war after war. Why cannot humans, created by the Lord God for a purpose, live at peace with one another?

The most recent war in Iraq lasted for more than four years, and so many families suffered losses of loved ones. Yet, we realize that when war is over – hopefully sooner rather than later – there are parts of the world in which people will not be able to get along with one another; and consequently, there will be more wars and rumors of wars as prophesied in the Bible.

In Old Testament times, King David was constantly involved in wars to protect his people. He like his predecessors had no choice but to become a warrior, as well as a spiritual leader, for the sake of the survival of Israel. Even so, David as the psalmist recognized that during the worst of times, there was always something for which to give thanks to God.

It just may be that David, a man of peace who nonetheless was forced to become a man of war, managed to keep his sanity by composing psalms; and keep in mind also that, as a human being, David constantly fought the war against temptation within himself; so, he was a king caught up in the battles within as well as without.

We too find ourselves fighting battles within our own personal lives; our struggles sometime cause us to question whether there is anything to be thankful for; but I stand before you today to say that there is; even in the darkest hours of our lives, there is much for which we can be grateful.