Praise God For Listening To Earnest Pleas! (Psalm 66:16-20) Series

MAKING MUSIC FROM SHARPS AND FLATS IN LIFE

Sermons Based on Selected Psalms

Psalms Sermon XI – Psalm 66:16-20

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 66:16-20 . . .

One of the television commercials that I simply do not like is the one that has all these people on streets and sidewalks and inside office buildings yawning. The only part of it that I do like is the very end of the commercial when a loud voice cries out, “Wake Up, People!”

Then it is suggested to the listening audience that the way to wake up is to drink a new kind of Pepsi Cola that contains about double the usual amount of caffeine. I haven’t tried it yet because I prefer to stick to my two cups of coffee to wake me up and get my brain in gear.

As I read the psalm which is the basis for our devotional message today – Psalm 66 – I could not help but wonder if the psalmist had had a double dose of caffeine of some kind. I really don’t know if they had any kind of caffeinated drinks back then; I do know of course that they drank wine – and rather heavily at that.

Yet, I doubt that the psalmist was drunk on wine when he penned the 66th Psalm because it makes too much sense to have been written by a drunk. However, it is obvious that the psalmist was on a spiritual “high” at the time of his composing this hymn.

The psalm is so majestic in its acclamation of praise - as a direct result of answered prayer - that one of the leading preachers of a generation ago, Clovis Chappell, referred to the 16th verse of the 66th psalm as presenting to us “the ageless theme” --- “Come and listen, all you who fear God; let me tell you what he has done for me.”

Here we have a man of faith who is determined to get a hearing. He has a story to tell that simply will not wait. He must share it with others. So, he shouts to all who will pay attention: “Listen to my story!”