When I read through Nehemiah 12 this morning (specifically v. 12), I couldn’t help but think of the worship wars that so many churches have over which instruments are acceptable for use in worship and which are not. As I read of the instrumentation used by the Levites at the dedication of the wall ceremony (sounds like a youth event, doesn’t it?), i.e. “cymbals, harps, and lyres,” I wondered if anyone in the “congregation” said, “The harp…now that’s God’s instrument; but what have we come to using the lyre and cymbal?!? Those are the instruments of the devil!”
Sounds silly, right? But it’s no sillier than what we hear in our churches today: “The organ and the piano…now those are God’s instruments; but what have we come to using the guitar and the drums?!? Those are the instruments of the devil!” AND, no better is: “The guitar and the drums…now those are God’s instruments of today; we wouldn’t be caught dead using the organ and piano—they’re so yesterday!”
The fact of the matter is that all music is God’s music, and all instruments are God’s instruments. I, for one, refuse to give any of them up to the devil!
“Praise the LORD. Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens. Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness. Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise him with the harp and lyre, praise him with tambourine and dancing, praise him with the strings and flute, praise him with the clash of cymbals, praise him with resounding cymbals. Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD.” (Psalm 150)