MAKING MUSIC FROM SHARPS AND FLATS IN LIFE
Sermons Based on Selected Psalms
Psalms Sermon XIV – Psalm 139
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 139 . . .
“God knows” is a phrase I have heard all my life - an expression of exasperation over not knowing the answer to a question somebody might ask. For example, someone asks, “Do you have any idea why he did such a foolish thing?” And the answer might be, “God knows.”
Usually, when those words are used due to exasperation, the phrase is meant in a way like the way cuss words are used – in a blasphemous tone of voice – and we all know that blasphemy is unacceptable to God.
In this sermon, however, I want to use the phrase within a Christian context – for, you see, when spoken appropriately, the two words together mean just what they say: God knows.
It is no secret to those of us who know God as our heavenly Father that the God we worship and serve is ALL-KNOWING. The Bible tells us that his knowledge has no limits. There is nothing in the universe that God is unaware of. He knows each detail; after all, He created all of it.
The focus of Psalm 139 is on God’s knowledge of each individual human being on the face of the earth – those who lived yesterday, those who live today, and those who will live at any period from now on.
So, this psalm is about God’s awareness of you and me, our individual situations, and our personal circumstances. He knows all about us. He knows who we are and where we are. He knows our past, present and future.
God knows us so well that even the hairs on our heads are numbered. And yes, He knows about the bald spots too – and the freckles, the wrinkles, the warts, whatever. Nothing is hidden from our Maker.
Adam and Eve made the mistake of trying to hide from God; but they only deceived themselves into believing that they could somehow go someplace where God was not. You cannot get much more naïve than that.
The psalmist confessed that he too had tried to escape God’s attention. “If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me; your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, ‘surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,’ even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.”
The writer of the Book of Revelation had it revealed to him that, in the presence of God, there is no darkness. He makes the point emphatically: “There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light.”
In the Diary of Anne Frank, whose family was a target of the Nazis during WWII, she described her family’s hiding place. She mentions a tiny ray of light that shone through a crack in the wall; it was the only light they had for months, but it was enough to remind them of God’s presence.
There may be times when we are forced to hide from an enemy; there may be times when we are alone in the dark; even so, we are not afraid due to the light of God’s presence – for, you see, God is not our enemy; He is the light of our salvation; He is on our side; and from Him we do not hide!
This psalm teaches us that there is no aspect of life which is beyond God’s awareness and understanding. He knows, He understands, He cares. God knows our actions. The psalmist says God knows “when I sit and when I rise.” This means that even our casual acts are known by Him.
When we were in grammar school, all kinds of mischief occurred when the teacher turned her back to the class to write on the chalkboard. Sometimes the teacher would whirl around to see if she could identify the culprit who was making the class giggle. That was so funny!
But God’s back is never turned. He sees everything we do; He knows the motives behind our actions. Who knows who the culprits are, and He knows who the good guys are. Some of our actions He may smile at; but some He may not find to be very funny.
God knows our thoughts. “You perceive my thoughts.” God knows not only what we do but why we do it. Therefore, it is so important to keep our thoughts pure – not only because God knows, but more importantly, due to the proverb that says, “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.”
God knows us by night and by day. The psalmist says, “You perceive my going out and my lying down.” Day and night God is with us, beside us, and watching over us. As a child, I was taught the little prayer that so many of us prayed as children, “Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray thee Lord my soul to keep; If I should die before I wake, I pray thee Lord my soul to take.”
God our Father is a familiar with all our ways – whether day or night; my thought about that is: He sure does put up with a lot – our eccentricities - our idiosyncrasies. How we must make God smile at some of our ways!
God knows what we say and what we want to say. Some of us talk to ourselves a lot, and others may not hear what we say, but God does. He even knows what we mutter under our breath about someone; it’s good sometimes that the other person did not hear what we said because there are times when we say something that would offend another person; but, knowing that God is aware of what we say – in whatever way we might say it - the psalmist gives us some good advice: “guard your lips.” Would you agree that there are times when we need to guard our lips?
You might be thinking by now, “What’s the use? If God knows all, He probably does not think too highly of me because I am weak and do not measure up to the high standards that God expects of me.”
If you think that way, think again. Remember I said that God not only knows, but He understands; He understands that we are human beings and, as such, we are imperfect; God is patient with us; rather than dwell on the negative aspect of God knowing it all, focus on the positive aspect of us knowing God.
I would hope that our realization that God knows who we are, what we think, what we say, and what we do, would affect you in the same way that it affects me. Knowing that God knows me, understands me, and cares about me, gives me a sense of awe - as it did the psalmist:
“How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I were to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand.”
Just knowing that “God knows” imparts to me a spirit of gratitude. You know why? Because no kind thought that I have, or good action that I take, is hidden from Him; nor will it go unrewarded by Him.
We may take the goodness and kindness of others for granted – but God does not take our goodness for granted. He sees it, He delights in it, and He is pleased with it.
Knowing that God knows my strengths as well as my weaknesses, that He sees my good deeds as well as my mistakes, that He is aware of my pure thoughts even though there have been times when my thoughts could have been better – knowing all of that encourages me.
Knowing that “God knows” motivates me to make things right. When I come to God in repentance, I receive from Him the gift of forgiveness. There can be no greater gift because God forgives, He forgets. He wipes the slate clean; He will no longer hold my sins against me.
An important thing to remember about repentance is that God already knows about our sins; it’s not that we must tell Him for Him to know what we are talking about; no; we must tell Him in order to show that we are willing to humble ourselves to the extent that we actually and specifically acknowledge our shortcomings. “Yes, Lord, I have sinned; I am sorry for my sins; I ask you, in Jesus’ Name, to forgive me.”
And the promise of God is this: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just, and will forgive us our sins, and will cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
In this way, we make things right with God. Nothing pleases the heavenly Father more - than for His children to make things right with Him; and, if need be, with others.
Let the words of the last two verses of this psalm be our prayer . . .
“Search me, O God, and know my heart;
Test me and know my thoughts.
See if there be any offensive way in me,
And lead me in the way everlasting.”
Selah.
