Leaders, Ministry Leadership, Podcasts / Devotionals
Are You in Tune?
#3-9-16
#WorshipDevotional
#AreYouInTune
Have you ever led worship from an instrument only to find out you were not in tune? Maybe the capo was in the wrong place? How about starting the song in the wrong key?
These may seem like minor or major mishaps, yet what happens from our heart is the kind of response God is looking for.
Like the hymn writer of “Come Thou Fount” says: “tune my heart to sing Thy grace.” The Lord knows our tonal quality, yet He seeks to conduct us in his mercy. In concert with one another, God desires our attitudes to also be in tune.
“We are all strings in the concert of God’s joy.” – Jakob Bohme
From the 6th Century, a mathematician named Pythagoras heard the hammering of an anvil. He observed that the blacksmith used several hammers in varying sizes and weights.In applying his mathematics skills, he discovered that each pitch from the strikes of different hammers produced simple ratios of each other. Pythagoras was able to divide the pitches accordingly: 1 whole ratio, 1/2, 1/4 and so forth.
He later applied this theory to the length of two strings and discovered that a musical tone can be governed by a number as it also creates an interval.
When playing two strings of the same length together, they produce the same pitch. As you shorten one string, leaving the other untouched, they produce two different pitches.
The Greeks, divided the string into four parts which gave pitch variations of 1/1 (whole), 3/4, 2/3 and 1/2. Through out the ages, these four pitches were further divided into octaves and 8 more notes creating a full scale – just as you see on the keys of a piano: 1 (Octave), 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 (Octave). Pythagoras was the inventor of harmony.
He understood that tuning and pitch relation from note to note produced consonant (pure) sounds and dissonant (impure) sounds.The tuning of the heart is relative to the tuning of strings.[ctt template=”10″ link=”1p7fw” via=”no” ]God sets the perfect pitch and our hearts are to be tuned to His grace.[/ctt]The question is are we allowing Him to tune us according to Scripture?
Psalms 150 says: 3 Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise him with the harp and lyre, 4 praise him with tambourine and dancing, praise him with the strings and flute,
Is Our Heart In Tune?
Various instruments are used in praising God. They resound in perfect union and harmony; they do not hinder, but help each other. Much like a symphony, one instrument voice is interdependent to another as they produce colors, shades and variations of harmony.
The Lord himself is a constant, pure and perfect tone.
“My heart is stirred by a noble theme as I recite my verses for the king; my tongue is the pen of a skillful writer.” – Psalm 45.1
[ctt template=”10″ link=”4QJ2c” via=”no” ]When our hearts and minds are not in tune with the Concert Master, we produce sounds of dissonance.[/ctt]Only the God can keep our hearts in one accord to His love.Is Our Relationship In Tune With One Another?
1 Peter 3:8 tells us: “Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble.”
“Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.” Rom. 12.15-16
May the voices from our fellowship with another and our devotion of the Lord be a pleasing sound to His ear. We truly are the strings of His symphony of joy.Is Our Worship Leading In Tune?
“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.” – Col. 3.16
“By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” – John 13.35
As an instrument of peace, we understand how to relate and identify with the people of the world. We bear with them in love and acceptance. The music they hear comes from the Author of the Gospel as He conducts through us, as instruments of His peace.If we do not have love in our hearts, how will others hear the music of the Gospel: “Even in the case of lifeless things that make sounds, such as the pipe or harp, how will anyone know what tune is being played unless there is a distinction in the notes?” 1Cor14.7
Reflection:
How has God called you in being an instrument of His peace? As a member of His symphony, what notes of love are you playing? In association with others, what kind of music are you making that pleases God? Are you in tune with God? Are you in tune with others?
@BranonDempsey @worshiptt
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