Making Music for The Lord

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen.

This is a time of year when people of course gather around with family and friends, and they eat some really great food, the turkey, and sides and of course the pie. But in this season of thanksgiving, people also tend to reflect upon the greatness of our God and the blessings that He pours into our lives. As people think about the blessings of God in their lives, they tend to respond in some kind of way. Some people will choose around this season to give back to those less fortunate or those people who have a greater need. Some people in response to the blessings of God, will share about it with friends and family. They will talk about, they will make mention of it, and if it is a really great gift and blessing they will find ways to bring it up in conversation. Today the Psalm that we read a portion of, Psalm 92, the Psalmist is talking about responding in praise. He talks about making music in praise to our God. He says, “It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to your name, O Lord…to declare your steadfast love in the morning, and your faithfulness by night, to the music of the lute and the harp, to the melody of the lyre.”The Psalmist - reflecting back on what God has done and he is responding with praise and thanksgiving - praising God with song!

For people of Israel as they reflect back on their history, God has done some pretty great things! He lead the people by pillar and cloud in the wilderness in the book of Exodus to set His people free of slavery! He separated the foaming waters of the sea - that the people of Israel in their journey back to the promised land were able to walk on dry ground. God worked some miraculous wonders in battle as the people of Israel entered the promised land - God literally gave the people of Israel their enemies into their hands! And they good news for us - God and His work in the world didn’t stop there! In fact, all this Old Testament work was building to the great of God - sending His Son Jesus to come to this world and make the love of God known! Jesus came to the world to take your sins upon Himself, to completely forgive you and restore your broken relationship with God! And through the work of Jesus - He has called you and invites you to come and dwell with Him forever. He has made you God’s child. And as the Psalmist writes, Jesus has made me (made us) glad by His Work! Its in Jesus that we have a peace that you can find no where else, its in Jesus where you have a peace with God and a confidence that you are forgiven. Its only in Jesus that we have a lasting joy - knowing that He has done it all for you!

When you are apart of band, or a part of a music group - you want to make sure that you are playing the same song, and you definitely want to make sure that you are playing in the same tune. If one of the band members is way out of whack - it can turn a beautiful masterpiece into a catastrophe. Or if one person starts playing a completely different song then the other band members it can make the song that is supposed to be played unrecognizable. Are there moments when we God’s people sing praises of God for what He has done. We come to church and sing the great hymns or songs - but we don’t live our lives in the same tune or we completely dance to another song in lives outside of church. Maybe there are moments we reflect on the grace of Jesus - but are slow to show grace to others. Or perhaps, we remember the great power of God’s forgiveness, and how that has covered our sins completely, but we don’t forgive others for the wrongs they do against us.

In this season of thanksgiving, let us take to the time to pick up the right song sheets - in praises of our God and may we continue to dance and live according to same rhythm. May our lives, words and actions be filled with songs of praise - reflecting to all the great things our Lord has done for us. So One day others can pick up that song sheet with us and sing along!

Let us pray!