Music, it has been said, has the
power to arouse various emotions in us, whether it inspires great emotions like
classical music does, or baser emotions like your latest rock band or pop group
do. Hard or soft, happy or sad, music touches the very fabric of our souls in a
way few other things can. Music is, perhaps, one of our greatest discoveries –
beating something with an animal skin stretched over it, blowing air through a
tube with holes in it, plucking a string, all of it can come together to create
a thing that touches something deep within us.
Music, I think, is important to God,
because it appears so often in the Bible, though we may not realize that at
first glance. All of the Psalms were originally set to music, although we have
long since lost whatever the tunes were. There were also songs of deliverance;
for example, the song of Miriam after the Israelites escaped the host of
Pharaoh, and the hymn Paul and Silas sang before the door of their prison cell
opened.
Psalms 98:4 and 100:1 both command
us to make a joyful noise unto the Lord and to sing praises. When we do so, we
can tap into the awesomeness that is creation, so filled with harmonies. Some
ancient peoples seriously resonated with the idea of a harmony of the worlds,
and they were far from foolish. It makes good sense to think of harmony in
creation, because we ourselves are part of it. May we strive to remember that,
as we are a part of God’s creation, we should exist in harmony with God and
with each other.
