MAKING MUSIC FROM SHARPS AND FLATS IN LIFE
Sermons Based on Selected Psalms
Psalms Sermon VII – Psalm 34:11-18
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 34:11-18 . . .
When you and I were young, the concept of FEAR seldom entered our minds. Of course, some of us might have been afraid of the dark when we were children; there might have been times when we were afraid of high places; or there might have been other things that we were afraid of; but most of these kinds of fear we grew out of.
The concept of FEAR spoken of by the psalmist is a healthy kind of fear - in the sense that, as God’s creation, we ought to REVERENCE our Creator with a great deal of RESPECT.
As a young person, one of the concepts I learned, and one for which I am grateful, was the fear of the Lord. In fact, the Bible teaches us that “fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”
This idea of fearing the Lord does not mean that we crouch in a corner or hide in our room as if God were a giant ogre waiting to pounce on us.
No, it means that we acknowledge God AS owner of His universe in which we live along with everything that is in it; we also acknowledge that we are here because He allowed us to be here; so we go about our lives in “God’s beautiful world” in a way that pleases Him.
If, by the time we become grown-ups, and have reached old age, and we still have not learned the fear of the Lord, the psalmist is saying (v. 11):
“Come, my children, listen to me; I will teach you fear of the Lord.” Did you know that we are never too old to learn? Some of us have learned the hard way that we do not know it all. My opinion as to the meaning of wisdom might be stated in this way: The older I get, the more I realize just how much I do not know. There is so much I still need to learn.
The psalmist is speaking directly to my heart and mind when he says (v. 12): “Whoever of you loves life and desires to see many GOOD days” will do thus and so. Well, I want you to know that I love life; and, yes, I want to see many good days – the Lord willing. Sure, I know that physical life on this earth will not go on forever; but if I am here, I want to enjoy life and have the kind of day almost everybody tells me to have when they say to me, “Have a good day.”
It seems that the psalmist (v. 13) associates a good day with good behavior; specifically, he mentions our conduct as he says to you and “Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking lies.”
If you wonder why he would equate having good days with speaking truth and refraining from evil words, all you have to do is recall a time in your life when you might have given someone a tongue lashing, or you might have told a lie about someone, and you will also recall that you felt miserable until either you apologized or you atoned for your bad conduct.
So, we must understand, especially as we grow older, that sometimes we manage to let our tongues get the best of us; we denounce people, or we find fault, or we get the notion that we have “earned” the right to speak our minds, without controlling our tongues.
Then the psalmist suggests that the best use we can make of tongue and time is to say something good about someone, or do something good for someone (v. 14): “Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.”
It takes a whole lot of effort to actually turn away from evil words . . . evil looks . . . evil behavior. There is, of course, no one in this room who thinks of himself or herself as being an “evil” person – and I would agree.
None of us really, intentionally, wishes to do anyone harm; nor would any of us want to see harm come upon another individual; however, we must keep in mind that there are those in the world who actively seek to stir up trouble and to harm others.
So, what I think the psalmist is warning you and me about is this: “Do not let your behavior – words or actions – be anything like that of really bad people. No; you don’t want to be like them; you want to be like people who seek peace and pursue happiness; and you do this by being a person who tries to get along with others; doesn’t mean you agree with everything everybody says or does; you can disagree without being so disagreeable.”
The psalmist goes on to tell us (vs. 15, 16) that there is something to be gained by being a peace seeker; there is something to be lost by being a trouble maker:
“The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their cry; the face of the Lord is against those who do evil - to cut off the memory of them from the earth.”
Wow! This tells me that the Lord knows our thoughts and sees our actions. He looks upon those who do right as if he gazes at them and never lets them out of His sight; in other words, the Lord God is pleased with his children who do right.
But notice that the Lord is so displeased with those who do wrong that He wants them out of His sight; He cannot stand the sight of them; in fact, you might say that the Lord sees to it that even their memory is blotted out of our minds; the Lord prefers that His people not even recall their existence on this earth: and you know that there have been tyrants throughout history who are gone - and “forgotten” - because of their evil deeds.
On the other hand, there are those of the past who are gone but NOT forgotten because of their goodness. That is the kind of person we want to be – a person whose goodness shall be remembered.
And here’s the good thing about goodness: Goodness in the here and now is only a foretaste of the goodness we shall experience in the hereafter. It’s folks like you, and others you have known, whom the psalmist encourages with these words of assurance (vs. 17, 18):
“The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them; he delivers them from their troubles. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”
One of my favorite old-time spirituals was the one by the title, “Nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen.” I think most of us probably feel that way: “Nobody has been through what I have been through; or, if they have, their trouble was not quite as bad as my trouble.”
Yet, I feel that there are those whose troubles have been greater than those of others; and I have met many a person who thought they had serious problems until they met someone else who had worse problems.
For example, one of the most pitiful sights you could see is to visit a military hospital and see human beings that have been maimed and mutilated beyond belief; and you come away feeling not quite as bad about your arthritis, or your limp, or your loss of a limb.
Regardless of the degree of an illness or injury, there is one thing that all God’s troubled children have in common; God is close to them! He is there to mend broken hearts and to restore spirits that have been broken by suffering and circumstances.
May I suggest to you that your time is not being wasted; you are learning to look to the Lord for counsel and comfort; you are learning to depend on His Spirit for encouragement; you are learning to fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ along with fellow Christians; and all of that is only a foretaste of glory Divine. “Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine; O what a foretaste of glory Divine.” Selah.
