The Gift of Music

Some friends took my wife and I to a concert last Sunday evening. The Cleveland Orchestra performed selections from the music of Leonard Bernstein. I'm not an aficionado of classical music or broadway shows. I wouldn't know if an oboe was off key or if the violins were too loud or if the percussionist "percussioned" at the wrong time. But, I do like to listen to beautiful music. I am in awe of musicians. I am more in awe of composers who can write scores that blend a myriad of sounds in seemingly perfect rythm and harmony.

Music is one of God's great gifts to us. One writer said, "The power of music in tranquilizing the mind, calming the spirit, and waking the whole soul to elevated thought and feelings is marvelous." I'm sure most everyone knows this by experience. But, like so much of God's perfect creation, fallen man has abused and misused even this precious gift. The same notes that can elevate the soul in Handel's Messiah when arranged in a different order and played to a different rythm create cacophonies that can push the spirit into despair.

But, like all of God's creation, one day even music will be transformed to it's highest created purpose--to glorify God. One old writer said this:

"The chief enjoyment of heaven is music. Oh, what melody floats through those bowers, rings through those mansions, reverberates through that dome, from the spirits of just men made perfect? They sing the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb. They sing of the everlasting love, of the atoning blood, of the sovereign grace that brought them there. Around the Lamb once slain they cluster, and upon His head, once filled with bruises, torn and bleeding with the thorn-crown, they bind the diadem of their praise. And, oh, how worthy is He of their sweetest anthem, their loftiest song, their loudest hallelujahs."

What a glorious time that will be. We will all be composers in that day. Our music will flow effortlessly from redeemed hearts and our voices will blend in perfect harmony. And, forever and ever every note, every sound, and every word will echo their pefect strains to the praise and honor of God who gave us the gift of music.