Photo by Ben Collins on Unsplash mean“ pretty”! I mean when music contains beauty in the deeper, more potent, wider sense) there too is God.
It worries me when I hear a Senior Pastor- especially of a larger church- refer to it as“ my church.” Surely the church he leads is God’ s church. Not his! But I tend to do the same thing with music. I may not say it out loud very often, but I think it. This is my music. After all, I played it, I sang it, I created it, right?
But any ability I have to make music first came from God. These aren’ t my talents and abilities. I am merely a steward- a caretaker- of these abilities. And while I may have exchanged hard-earned currency to purchase my basses, guitars, keyboards and more- and easily think of my singing voice as most definitely mine- these things are at my disposal only through the provision of God. If I am His, then my musical hardware, my voice and any musical ability I have must surely be His too.
“ Next to the Word of God, the noble art of music is the greatest treasure in the world” Martin Luther( 1483-1546)
When I say prayers, I find it pretty easy to thank Him for people- like my wife and kids, wider family and friends. I might also thank Him for providing me with other obvious good things in my life like food, shelter, health and safety. But I have not often thanked God for the gift of music, even though it has brought so much joy and pleasure to my life over the years, and it continues to do so.
But more than just providing me with joy and pleasure, I ought to thank God for making Himself better known to me though music. And for the privileged opportunity I have to use music to invite others to declare His worth through songs and, in turn, for them to know Him better too.
I met and spoke with a pastor recently. He and I both share a love of music. He emailed me the next day with this prayer- a gently modernized edit- from Scottish author, radio and TV presenter and theologian William Barclay( 1907 – 1978). A good reminder for me- and perhaps for you too- to thank God for music!
A Musician’ s Prayer O God, I thank you for your gift to us of music. I thank you For the music which tells of the sorrows of the human heart, and which can also soothe them; For the music which expresses human joy; For the music which thrills and challenges the spirit of people; For the music which says things which words are powerless to say. I thank you that you gave me the ability to enjoy music and to understand it. I thank you for the ability to create it. I thank you alike for the music which makes the feet of people dance and for the music which makes the hearts of people pray. Help me to worship and to serve you in your gift of music, and grant that I may always be ready to use this gift of mine for your service and for the joy of people, through Jesus Christ my Lord.
Grant Norsworthy Grant is the founder of More Than Music Mentor- providing online & onsite training for the heart & the art of worshipping singers, instrumentalists & technicians. Grant’ a passion is to IMPROVE musicality, INCREASE participation, INSTILL unity & INSPIRE worship in The Church worldwide. An Aussie who also lived in Nashville, TN, USA for 17 years as a pro CCM muso, today Grant lives and works from his Nelson New Zealand home base.
MoreThanMusicMentor. com Facebook. com / GrantNorsworthy
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