Good morning, today I have a message, which is dear to my heart, for you based on 1 Chronicles chapter 6.
Musical memories
I have been a musician since my earliest memories. We lived in an apartment that had a hallway with a door, a small space, another door, and then another apartment. I was six years old, so I didn’t understand the architecture.
Somehow, I had a plastic toy guitar, and I would go into that breezeway, close both doors, which would set up some interesting acoustics, and make up songs.
Then I would play those songs for my siblings and mother.
Later, when I was ten, we lived in a house and had a neighbor named Kevin. He was a retired sessions musician from New York who had played with some recording artists I was familiar with.
His son, Sean, was only five, so he was too young to learn much. Kevin liked to teach me chords and scales and let me play his custom guitars. I was hooked.
Kevin moving away left me with a deep and overwhelming sense of loss. My mother could see how much I had enjoyed learning to play. That Christmas, she bought me an electric guitar and an amplifier combo from the Spiegel catalog. Money was always short, but she made that a priority.
Fifty-four years later, I am still playing. These days, it is in the church’s praise band.
Temple Musicians
What does this have to do with 1 Chronicles chapter 6? Let’s look…
In these verses, we read about the genealogy of the Levites. This would include Aaron and all his sons. We have met many of them throughout the previous books.
Then in 6:31 we hear about the Temple Musicians.
These were the men who David put in charge of the worship music. Some were singers, others perhaps songwriters. In verse 33, we hear of Heman, the musician.
Verse 6:48 says, “Their fellow Levites were assigned to all the other duties of the tabernacle,”. (NIV)
Sacred duty
These were sacred duties, as we have discussed. It also implies that music is a sacred duty.
This is how I have always approached playing in the praise band.
A prophet would not tell prophecy without consulting the Lord. If someone is a preacher, they would study the scriptures and allow the Holy Spirit to guide them. Teachers would never attempt to instruct a classroom without learning the lesson first.
Unfortunately, I have seen, if I am being honest, even been, a musician who has taken part in worship because I enjoy playing music.
They will approach this duty to make attending church more fun for themselves.
There is nothing wrong with enjoying your service to the Lord. We all should have a desire to do what we do.
A problem can arise when a musician does not ask God to improve their skills. Nor will they push themselves to learn more than they know.
I used to tell people I don’t know how to play bar chords. They were hard to play, and I had resisted learning them for three decades. I knew this held me back as a musician, but I was only doing it for fun, so what did it matter?
Now, I understood that being a part of the praise band is a ministry. That like these Levites, I had to approach it with the same decorum as I approach preaching or teaching, I had to accept that challenge.
If I am preaching a Bible verse which God puts on my heart, like 6:31, I would never say I don’t know what it means. I would study and research until I do.
There is a gentleman at our church who likes to ask me what various passages mean. When I don’t know, I tell him I will find out. Then I research and learn. This is a responsibility I accept (see 2 Tim 2:15).
Making the effort
A praise band musician, or choir singer, needs to look at this as a duty and put in the same effort.
When they do, they will not only sound better, and have more fun, but they will feel the Lord working through them. Using them as His instrument in reaching hearts (see 2 Chron 5:13).
Has a song stirred powerful emotions in you? That is God working through the hands and voices of the praise team, through their instruments, into your ears. He is doing this for your benefit, not the musicians.
He is blessing them with the ability to do what they are doing. Then God is making it all sound the way He wants it to sound. He is opening your mind and heart to respond to it (see 1 Sam 16:14-23).
Days later, when a song is stuck in your mind. That isn’t just a catchy tune. This is the Holy Spirit helping you recall something He taught you (see John 14:26). It is God talking to you.
Are you listening, or just humming along? What is He saying to you?
