He Couldnt Carry A Tune In A Bucket In case you don’t know, that phrase is a figure of speech meaning someone doesn’t sing very well. The tall young man I’m describing was from a small town in west Texas. We often went to chapel and worship services together when we were college freshmen. He was one of those who would “give you the shirt off his back”, but to hear him sing was not a very pleasant experience! He literally could not “carry a tune in a bucket.” I recall that it bothered me to sit by him in chapel. His off-key singing was a distraction to me. He just could not sing! Maybe you have had a similar experience. We may want our worship to be uplifting, to be “pretty”, to make a difference in our day. But his singing was not what I expected and wanted. It took me nearly a year to realize that he wasn’t singing for me, but for God, and that God doesn’t demand that our singing be “pretty” – but to be from the heart – like that tall young man from west Texas. Since then I have heard my children sing, I have heard my grandchildren sing, and their voices are “music to my ears,” even if they miss a note or two. I have a picture my son drew for me when he was just a child. There were several details in the picture that were not just right – colors, size, etc. I put that picture up on my office wall alongside those drawn by professional artists. It was what was in his heart as he drew that scene that pleased me, not the shading or the color. He drew it just for me! Come by and I will show it to you. Jesus addressed this issue in His conversation with the woman of Samaria, John 4:24. When He described “the trueworshippers”, He said nothing about worship being “pretty”. What did He demand? He said it “must” be “in spirit and in truth,” from the heart and in harmony with God’s truth. Is it hard for us to understand why God expects man to worship Him? It is true that every civilization – even those who never saw a Bible – sought to worship someone or some thing. Both archaeologists and historians have evidence that man possessed that need long before he knew any external requirement for worship. In the Bible we read how nations fashioned their own “gods” from wood. In Isaiah 45:20 we read the following: “…they have no knowledge Who carry the wood of their carved image, and pray to a god that cannot save” [NKJV]. In Habakkuk 2:18, we read, “What profit is the image, that its maker should carve it, the molded image, a teacher of lies, that the maker of its mold should trust in it? To make mute idols?” When Israel was threatened by their enemies, Jeremiah rebuked them for their wooden “gods”, saying they should “Let them arise, If they can save you in the time of your trouble,” Jeremiah 2:28. During those days they were much like the Athenians who had multiple “gods,” in fact they had one on every street corner, Acts 17. We have grown to love the song that boldly declares, “Our God, He is Alive,” because He is not made of wood or metal. He is the One who made all things, Hebrews 3:4, Revelation 4:11. In Ephesians 5:19, we are told, “…be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father.” The melody our God loves is that melody made “in your heart to the Lord.” Yes, that melody “must” be from the heart and in harmony with God’s truth. When our Father hears those very qualities, it matters not that we can or cannot “carry a tune in a bucket.” The same principle is true in all our worship. Prayers that are merely memorized, or “vain repetitions,” carry no weight to our Father, Matthew 6:7. When we participate in the Lord’s Supper, our thoughts and our deeds must be meaningful. In 1 Corinthians 11:27 we read: “Whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.” It’s the manner of our worship that God respects, not what man pronounces is “beautiful”! I’m glad I sat by that tall young man those many years ago. We became good friends, and he taught me a lesson I desperately needed to learn. Carl Garner
Posted on: Sun, 20 Jul 2014 05:06:47 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015