daily prayer

    Good morning! How are we faithing? It's interesting to me when I listen to music made since WWII. The advent of different genres and how music evolved. The themes sung about and written about were no longer innocent it seems. Prior music was pretty tame in comparison. Was it because of recording? Was it exposure to the entire world? Probably  both and others factors too. Public innocence kind of went away during that war due to visual media more so than any other time in history. The glamor of war and the not spoken of things all of a sudden were seen and heard. One of the greats, Beethoven I think, said that music made without God in mind was a collection of noise. Does that mean all music should be written like a hymn? No man, he was refering to glamorizing secular junk. Love, life, experiences are all fine to sing about through a filter of God. Things happen in this life and singing is a release but is glamorizing sex, drugs etc. wise? When one hears a song, the genre isn't important as much as the message. All genres have their place in the world and all genres can honor God but when that line is crossed, they become noise. Here is where these conclusions are drawn from and there are many many more;

Habakkuk 3:19

The Lord GOD is my strength,
And He has made my feet like hinds' feet,
And makes me walk on my high places.
For the choir director, on my stringed instruments.
NAS

1 Chronicles 23:5
and 4,000 were gatekeepers, and 4,000 were praising the LORD with the instruments which David made for giving praise.
NAS

2 Chronicles 7:6
And the priests stood at their posts and the Levites, with the instruments of music to the LORD, which King David had made for giving praise to the LORD-- "for His lovingkindness is everlasting"-- whenever he gave praise by their means, while the priests on the other side blew trumpets; and all Israel was standing.
NAS

2 Chronicles 29:26
And the Levites stood with the musical instruments of David, and the priests with the trumpets.
NAS

Amos 6:5
Who improvise to the sound of the harp,
And like David have composed songs for themselves,
NAS

1 Kings 10:12
And the king made of the almug trees supports for the house of the LORD and for the king's house, also lyres and harps for the singers; such almug trees have not come in again, nor have they been seen to this day.
NAS

2 Chronicles 5:12
and all the Levitical singers, Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun, and their sons and kinsmen, clothed in fine linen, with cymbals, harps, and lyres, standing east of the altar, and with them one hundred and twenty priests blowing trumpets
NAS

Psalms 81:1-3
Sing for joy to God our strength;
Shout joyfully to the God of Jacob.
Raise a song, strike the timbrel,
The sweet sounding lyre with the harp.
 Blow the trumpet at the new moon,
At the full moon, on our feast day.
NAS

Isaiah 38:20
 "The LORD will surely save me;
So we will play my songs on stringed instruments
All the days of our life at the house of the LORD."
NAS

Genesis 4:21-22
 And his brother's name was Jubal; he was the father of all those who play the lyre and pipe.
NAS

Psalms 150:4-6
 Praise Him with timbrel and dancing;
Praise Him with stringed instruments and pipe.
 Praise Him with loud cymbals;

Praise Him with resounding cymbals.

 Let everything that has breath praise the LORD.
Praise the LORD!
NAS

Think music in Jesus' time sounded like todays country music? Think the temple music was classical? Think John the Baptist whistled opera? Did David dance to disco? Does it matter as long as God is praised? Think and explore the Word because this subject has divided people for over half a century...
 
Remember Larry, Nancy, Mona,Gina, April and Jody...
 
Heavenly Father,
 
   Thank you for the gift of music. Thank you that we can hear talented people singing praises. Lord help us not get into the ridiculous arguements over style but consentrate on substance. We adore and want to praise you with singing and instruments. Help us discern. Lord, thank you for being ever present with us. We lift your name on high..in Jesus name, amen