Do you love to sing in your home?
We are a family who sings together every chance we get! We sing in family worship. We sing at the end of the day. We sing in the car. We sing along to music playing in the home. We sometimes sing as we walk along. We have even had people sing in the bathroom!
We also have a piano in our home. I learnt to play the piano as a child, but have woefully neglected it in more recent years. There is one fairly major reason. Our piano is old, and it doesn't sty in tune very well at all. I think there's nothing worse than playing or listening to music that is out of tune. It just sounds wrong, and offends my ears! Of course, with a piano, if it IS in tune, you can make a pretty good attempt at a tuneful rendition. The notes may not always be "right", but it's in tune. The violin, on the other hand?!... I used to play the violin, including in the school orchestra. I have horrible memories of the Radetsky March sounding both slow and torturous, played by a bunch of amateurs. Not pleasant!
Yesterday, Robert quoted one of my favourite hymns in his sermon.
That second line really stuck out to me.
God is worthy of our praise. He deserves our praise. And yet, so often our hearts are "out of tune", and we don't praise Him as we ought to.
So many things can make our hearts "un-tuneful".
Sometimes it can be our circumstances, with very legitimate feelings of grief or depression, as we go through trials and struggles. Such feelings can really make our heart feel out of tune.
Many are things that we DO have control over. Discontent. Ungratefulness. Selfishness. Misery. Rebellion. Lack of love.
Whatever the reason for our heart being out of tune, we need to come to the Lord, every day, and ask Him to "tune our heart" again, to sing His praise. Why? Because we MUST praise Him! The Bible tells us we ought to, and so we need to obey.
18 times, in the Psalms, we are instructed to "Praise Him". 33 times we read of those who "praise the Lord", or that WE should praise the Lord. Then there are the verses that specifically instruct us to SING praise! It's not just something that you should do if you feel like it - SING His praise! It's a command!
Is your heart heavy today? Are you struggling with a heart that is not "in tune", to be able to sing praise to God?
Ask the Lord to get out His divine tuning fork, and get your heart into tune. Have you seen how a violinist tunes his instrument? The pegs need to be turned, to make the string the perfect tension. Not too loose. Not too tight. Then, finer tuning needs to be done, with tiny little screws, getting the perfect tuning. In order for our hearts to be in tune, the Lord may have to "turn the screws" in our life. It may not be a painless experience, being brought back into that perfect relationship with God, that we ought to be in. But, it needs to be done in order that our hearts can sing His praise as we ought to.
If we only stop and consider God's goodness and mercy, we will have every cause to sing His praise. As the hymn says
His mercies stream forth, every day. As undeserving as we are, if we but stop and think about it, even in the midst of despair and trial, God's mercy in never ending, and we MUST praise Him.
It may just start in our hearts as a simple, yet meaningful "thank you, Lord - thank you for your grace and goodness". But, as a stream begins as tiny trickle, in the mountain top, the more we praise, the stronger the current of our praise will become, until our hearts roar like the mighty torrents of the greatest river, praising God with our whole heart. A heart so full of praise for God, that everyone around us knows of our love and adoration for God.
We are a family who sings together every chance we get! We sing in family worship. We sing at the end of the day. We sing in the car. We sing along to music playing in the home. We sometimes sing as we walk along. We have even had people sing in the bathroom!
We also have a piano in our home. I learnt to play the piano as a child, but have woefully neglected it in more recent years. There is one fairly major reason. Our piano is old, and it doesn't sty in tune very well at all. I think there's nothing worse than playing or listening to music that is out of tune. It just sounds wrong, and offends my ears! Of course, with a piano, if it IS in tune, you can make a pretty good attempt at a tuneful rendition. The notes may not always be "right", but it's in tune. The violin, on the other hand?!... I used to play the violin, including in the school orchestra. I have horrible memories of the Radetsky March sounding both slow and torturous, played by a bunch of amateurs. Not pleasant!
Yesterday, Robert quoted one of my favourite hymns in his sermon.
Come, Thou Fount of every blessing,
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;
Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise.
That second line really stuck out to me.
"Tune my heart to sing Thy grace"
God is worthy of our praise. He deserves our praise. And yet, so often our hearts are "out of tune", and we don't praise Him as we ought to.
So many things can make our hearts "un-tuneful".
Sometimes it can be our circumstances, with very legitimate feelings of grief or depression, as we go through trials and struggles. Such feelings can really make our heart feel out of tune.
Many are things that we DO have control over. Discontent. Ungratefulness. Selfishness. Misery. Rebellion. Lack of love.
Whatever the reason for our heart being out of tune, we need to come to the Lord, every day, and ask Him to "tune our heart" again, to sing His praise. Why? Because we MUST praise Him! The Bible tells us we ought to, and so we need to obey.
18 times, in the Psalms, we are instructed to "Praise Him". 33 times we read of those who "praise the Lord", or that WE should praise the Lord. Then there are the verses that specifically instruct us to SING praise! It's not just something that you should do if you feel like it - SING His praise! It's a command!
Is your heart heavy today? Are you struggling with a heart that is not "in tune", to be able to sing praise to God?
Ask the Lord to get out His divine tuning fork, and get your heart into tune. Have you seen how a violinist tunes his instrument? The pegs need to be turned, to make the string the perfect tension. Not too loose. Not too tight. Then, finer tuning needs to be done, with tiny little screws, getting the perfect tuning. In order for our hearts to be in tune, the Lord may have to "turn the screws" in our life. It may not be a painless experience, being brought back into that perfect relationship with God, that we ought to be in. But, it needs to be done in order that our hearts can sing His praise as we ought to.
If we only stop and consider God's goodness and mercy, we will have every cause to sing His praise. As the hymn says
"Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise."
His mercies stream forth, every day. As undeserving as we are, if we but stop and think about it, even in the midst of despair and trial, God's mercy in never ending, and we MUST praise Him.
It may just start in our hearts as a simple, yet meaningful "thank you, Lord - thank you for your grace and goodness". But, as a stream begins as tiny trickle, in the mountain top, the more we praise, the stronger the current of our praise will become, until our hearts roar like the mighty torrents of the greatest river, praising God with our whole heart. A heart so full of praise for God, that everyone around us knows of our love and adoration for God.
"I will praise thee, O LORD, with my whole heart; I will shew forth all thy marvellous works."
Psalm 9:1
"O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I'm constrained to be!"
Daily, we should seek to see how much in debt we are to God and His grace, and seek to sing His praise from high and low.
Ask the Lord, today, to get your heart in tune with His, and start singing His praises!
Ask the Lord, today, to get your heart in tune with His, and start singing His praises!
"Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing: thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness;
To the end that my glory may sing praise to thee, and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks unto thee for ever. "
Psalm 30:11-12
Thx just what I needed to hear/ read :-D xxx
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