What A Mighty God We Serve! (Psalm 46) Series

MAKING MUSIC FROM SHARPS AND FLATS IN LIFE

Sermons Based on Selected Psalms

Psalms Sermon IX – Psalm 46

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 46 . . .

Almost everyone has heard of Martin Luther; and, if so, you know that he was the German monk and hymn writer credited with founding the Protestant movement more than 500 years ago.

Martin Luther was author of the words and composer of the music of what many consider to be the greatest hymn ever sung in protestant churches – “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God.”

As the great reformer, Luther championed the doctrine of the priesthood of the believer, taking issue with the papal system of church government. He believed very strongly – as do most Protestants – that the individual believer in Christ is free to interpret scripture as led by the Holy Spirit and not as dictated by a supreme human authority.

Luther preached that the only authoritative guide to go by for the practice of our Christian Faith is the Holy Bible given to us by authors who wrote down the Word of God as inspired by the Spirit of God. He believed that no person has the right to “add to” or “take away from” the Bible, that every believer is a “priest” who has direct access to the throne of God.

Because of his revolutionary preaching, Luther was kicked out of the government-endorsed church of his day; consequently, he became a “marked” man; the good news was that others joined hands with him in the reformation of Christianity – a reformation that has survived 500 years - with protestant denominations and churches spreading the gospel independent of control by a government-endorsed hierarchy.

We must remember, though, that our freedom to practice our beliefs as we feel led by the Holy Spirit of God was won at a great personal expense to Luther - as had been the case with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ – as had been the case with those who spread the gospel of Christ in the first century – not the least of whom was the apostle Paul who was executed because of his preaching that Jesus Christ was the Messiah sent by God.