Melodious Harmony

At the last place worked, I would get up super early in the morning to go to work. This served several purposes. I would avoid traffic going to and from work. I would have at least one hour alone to work before anyone else showed up. It was also an extension of my alone time with my Savior. First thing I did was to turn on the cell phone music. It was usually very boisterous. Sometimes, I would sing along. It always managed to enliven me. It opened my appetite to work. You see, some accounting functions were plain tedious. They were never hard, just boring. Music made it tolerable to do these functions without pulling out one’s hair. With music as my partner, I was always able to accomplish much in little time. When others would start coming in to work and want to socialize for a bit, I did not panic as some of the work was already done. I would rather be sleep deprived than feel unproductive during the work day. 

Music was a big part of my life growing up. I remember my maternal grandmother listening to music and singing along. Sometimes she would sing acapella. My mother inherited this trait and passed it along to her offspring. As a child, I liked music. I liked singing. I had no idea that music served any purpose. I was doing it out of imitation of loved ones. Sometimes I wonder if we know why we do most things. 

Years later, I discovered that music and songs served multi purposes. They can be stimulants. They can be relaxants. I am sure everyone knows at least one purpose music serves. Do you listen to music while exercising / working out? Taking a walk? Gardening? Music can be enlightening and enables expansion of self. Of course, this depends on the lyrics of the songs. If the lyrics speak curses, then death is the expected outcome. If the lyrics speak blessing, life is the outcome. As with our spoken words, the sung words are equally powerful. 

In Psalm 150, the author encourages singing with differing kinds of instruments. Here is the NIV translation:

“Praise the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens. Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness. Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise him with the harp and lyre, praise him with tambourine and dancing, praise him with the strings and flute, praise him with the clash of cymbals, praise him with resounding cymbals. Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord.”

So God created music? Whether directly or indirectly? Can we say that God likes to sing as well? Check out what the prophet Zephaniah said in chapter 3 verse 17; here God is speaking to Zion, his people: “The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.”