If you recorded a typical day at your house, what would you hear… the TV blasting, telephone ringing, people yelling, and dogs barking? Sounds can be motivating or irritating.
God created the sound of music with the capacity to have a dramatic influence on our emotions. Music has the ability to instantly change the atmosphere. It is amazing that with the mere push of a button we can fill a room with a marching band or a hundred-voice choir. Whether it is the sound of birds singing or the echo of our own voice, music can make us feel calm or animated. By choosing the sounds we listen to, we hold the remote control to the atmosphere around us.
Psalm 57:7
“My heart is fixed, O God. I will sing and make melody.”
Practical Application and Assignments:
Do you realize that prior to the twentieth century only kings and affluent people had the means to listen to music anytime, via live paid performers? The twentieth century generations became the first with the ability to enjoy music twenty-four hours a day through radio, television, cassette tapes, CD’s, videos, and the Internet. What an incredible luxury!
- Choose carefully the kind of music to which you listen. It has a powerful influence on your mind and emotions.
- Use music to your advantage. When children are irritable, fill the room with lively music and watch what happens. When you feel sad, fill your mind with a joyful melody. When you lack enthusiasm, fill the atmosphere with rhythm and its beat will put a spring in your heel. When you are weary, fill your ears with a relaxing instrumental. When you are alone, fill your spirit with songs of praise and worship to God will burst forth.
- When you have a song in your heart, sing along. Go to bed with a song on your lips and it will be there when you awake.
“Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord.” Ephesians 5:19 (NIV)
