Staying in Tune

 

  

If we have not experienced HIS songs in the night (in those hard seasons), it might be because we resent being stretched.  We tend to avoid the difficult songs that require a lot of practice, especially when the score is complicated.  It is so much easier to play the old familiar tunes.   Being able to play the great pieces with other dedicated musicians requires hours of discipline driven by the vision of how beautiful the concert will be.  If we don’t prepare our heart we will stay out of tune and miss out on being the instrument that He longs to play His music through.

 The biblical idea of “hate” is to disdain or devalue.  When our own comfort is what we value First, (playing our own favorite music), we become our worst enemy when things do not go our way.  Our song will be just like those sad country songs about the hard times that everyone can relate to because life is so hard.    

 The beautiful music we love to hear, is coming from instruments that have all been carefully tuned to exact concert pitch. When we learn to stay in tune with Him, we will not only find that our lives sing HIS songs, but we’ll also grow in chorus with each other.

 Heavenly Father, help us to tune out of the world’s noise and listen to you.

 "Has it ever occurred to you that one hundred pianos all tuned to the same fork are automatically tuned to each other?  They are of one accord by being tuned, not to each other, but to another standard to which each one must individually bow.  So one hundred worshipers meeting together, each one looking away to Christ, are in heart nearer to each other than they could possibly be were they to become “unity” conscious and turn their eyes away from God to strive for closer fellowship.”

 A. W. Tozer The Pursuit of God

 "God uses suffering to purge sin from our lives, strengthen our commitment to Him, force us to depend on grace, bind us together with other believers, produce discernment, foster sensitivity, discipline our minds, spend our time wisely, stretch our hope, cause us to know Christ better, make us long for truth, lead us to repentance of sin, teach us to give thanks in time of sorrow, increase faith and strengthen character."  Joni Eareckson Tada