Devotion

Symbols of God:  Music, Notes and the Harp

King David's Songs

A unique silence falls over a room when a single instrument begins to play. The Bible knows this silence well. Long before David was king, he was a shepherd boy with a lyre, called into Saul's troubled court for one purpose: to play until the darkness in the king's spirit lifted (1 Samuel 16:23). The musical note in this context is intervention. The harp is one of the Bible's oldest symbols of God because of what it makes possible in human hands given over to worship. 

David, "the sweet psalmist of Israel" (2 Samuel 23:1), gave the Church its songbook in the book of Psalms in the Bible. The Psalms give us the full range of human experience: lament and exultation, guilt and gratitude, fear and trust. They are full of the sense of having a relationship with God, taking to Him, praising Him, in whatever state we find ourselves. David did not wait until his emotions were 'tidy' before he picked up the harp. He brought his anger to God in song. He brought his terror. He brought his shame after failure, and his sheer delight in being alive. The instrument became a way for him to relate honestly with God.

Martin Luther, no stranger to inner turmoil himself, held music in extraordinarily high regard. He called it a gift of God and believed it could drive away the devil and lift a troubled heart, precisely because it does something we see already in David's harp: it does not simply argue darkness away, but makes room for another word to be heard - a word of truth, beauty and hope. Luther's own hymns became, in a sense, harps for the congregation: ordinary people were given words and melodies through which they could sing the faith, hear the Gospel, and carry God's Word in their hearts.

We might ask ourselves: what is the tune of your life saying to God at the moment? David's answer changed across decades and dozens of psalms, and God received every version of it. There is comfort in that. The invitation is not to play a perfect song, but simply to play.

"Sing to Him a new song; play skilfully, and shout for joy." — Psalm 33:3

Prayer

Lord, thank you for the gift of music. As David played his harp for you, help us bring our joys and our worries to you too, in song, in prayer, and in the quiet moments of our day. Amen.

Blessings!

Will Wallace

Principal