"Praise be to the Lord God, the God of Israel, who alone does marvelous deeds. Praise be to his glorious name forever. May the whole earth be filled with his glory. Amen and Amen.
{Psalm 72:18-19}

We went to the New York Philharmonic Saturday night at the request of my son, Rudy. I wanted our children to know about music, so when each of them turned three years old, we started violin lessons. I learned so much myself, since I had to help them each day as we practiced. I'm not going to lie, it was a lot, since I needed to work with each one separately. 

When My third started lessons, I had to be disciplined to keep up with practice. My flesh wanted to forget about the entire thing, throw the violins out the window, and never go for another lesson. I didn't give in to temptation because I could see the necessary order and love of music being displayed in our oldest. Although he wasn't glad to practice, I knew a new muscle was developing in him, an understanding of how music worked, and fit into everyday life.

I wanted my children to use their musical talents to glorify God in church, but that didn't happen. As the High School years came and went, the violin was pushed to the corner, and somewhat forgotten. I knew that all was not lost. Rachel began working with a local theatre company, performing musicals, so her talents were showcased in another venue. Rudy continued to enjoy different genres of music, but classical stayed in his mind. Matthew also had a deep sense of joy from the classics.

As we sat listening to one of the best orchestras in the country, I could not help but think about those early days of music training. It brought to my mind the need for the church at large, to become as one in discerning God's voice for unity in our hour. The little ones, who first put the bow to the string, made sounds that one could not easily define as music. The Philharmonic, once turned to the concertmaster, played melodies that were heavenly in nature. No one dared play a note other than those that were written by the great composers, or tried to define a melody without the help of the conductor.

Isn't Jesus the greatest composer of all time, leading the hearts of men to be in tune with his heartbeat? How is it that God's people are so fragmented from one another, but each of us claim to be hearing from Him? Our only hope is to cry out to Him, and listen, be still as the daughters of God, and do what He says. In the last days, the Bible says that there would not be a lack of bibles, but a lack of hearing what the Bible says. "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and every one that loves is born of God." { 1 John 4:7}

Being in tune with our Master, and longing to hear his voice is undoubtedly our greatest need in our generation. Our enemy knows this much better than we do, and fights against unity on every front. We can defeat him in Christ. I'm going to ask him today, to make me stronger and braver. I hope you do too.  We will never know what a mighty God we serve if we don't take him at his word. love and blessings