Music of the heart

DEVOTION

EXODUS

MUSIC OF THE HEART

Ex 15:1-18

15:1 Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the LORD:

"I will sing to the LORD, for he is highly exalted. The horse and its rider he has hurled into the sea. 2 The LORD is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise him, my father's God, and I will exalt him. 3 The LORD is a warrior; the LORD is his name. 4 Pharaoh's chariots and his army he has hurled into the sea. The best of Pharaoh's officers are drowned in the Red Sea.   5 The deep waters have covered them; they sank to the depths like a stone. 6 "Your right hand, O LORD, was majestic in power. Your right hand, O LORD, shattered the enemy. 7 In the greatness of your majesty you threw down those who opposed you. You unleashed your burning anger; it consumed them like stubble. 8 By the blast of your nostrils the waters piled up. The surging waters stood firm like a wall; the deep waters congealed in the heart of the sea. 9 "The enemy boasted,' I will pursue, I will overtake them. I will divide the spoils; I will gorge myself on them. I will draw my sword and my hand will destroy them.' 10 But you blew with your breath, and the sea covered them. They sank like lead in the mighty waters. 11 "Who among the gods is like you, O LORD? Who is like you — majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders? 12 You stretched out your right hand and the earth swallowed them. 13 "In your unfailing love you will lead the people you have redeemed. In your strength you will guide them to your holy dwelling. 14 The nations will hear and tremble; anguish will grip the people of Philistia. 15 The chiefs of Edom will be terrified, the leaders of Moab will be seized with trembling, the people of Canaan will melt away; 16 terror and dread will fall upon them. By the power of your arm they will be as still as a stone — until your people pass by, O LORD, until the people you bought pass by. 17 You will bring them in and plant them on the mountain of your inheritance — the place, O LORD, you made for your dwelling, the sanctuary, O Lord, your hands established. 18 The LORD will reign for ever and ever."

NIV

Well, that pretty much sums it up. But it would have been wonderful to hear an over two million voice choir sing it, and just think without all the instruments and colorful lights twirling around. It was just voices singing praise to the LORD. Will that be how it is going to be when we all get to heaven? Maybe they did have some instruments, we are not told if they did or didn’t.

We do have one example in the scriptures of Israel using instruments when praising the Lord, as when David received back the Ark of the Covenant

2 Sam 6:4-5

 5 David and the whole house of Israel were celebrating with all their might before the LORD, with songs and with harps, lyres, tambourines, sistrums and cymbals.

NIV

However there are many more which indicate a more personal type of praise, in our hearts.

Eph 5:19-20

19 Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, 20 always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

NIV

The point here in this song is it is all about praise to the LORD. That praise arose from the hearts of those Israelites to the LORD for saving them from the hands of the Egyptians. The whole of the song is about what the LORD did. The only portion that speaks about the people, is they will praise him. This song is all about the LORD, his power, his might, his salvation, his strength and action for his people.  It is about his redeeming his people, his leading them to the Promised Land. How many songs of today have been written using the words of this song of the people? Yet this is our song. He will fight for us, he will crush the enemy of our souls. He will be covered by the sea, the sea of burning sulfur. The LORD will lead us to the Promised Land. Those who oppose him will not be able to stand. Certainly they will not stand in the assembly of the righteous, but they will not be able to take a stand against the mighty hand of the LORD in this world as well. He will always be victorious. We only need to be still and watch his mighty hand at work. That is the largest hindrance for us, to be still and know he is God. We want to fight our own battles all too often, but then we cannot praise God, we can only praise ourselves. But all too often we fail in our efforts to win the battle, then there is no praise at all. But when we stand still and allow God to fight the battle, victory is ours and praise is all over our lips as it was with the children of Israel in this song. Let us raise our voice from our heart of praise. It is with our heart that we praise God, and it is with our voice that we express that praise. He is worthy of all our praise for he is the LORD. Let us make music in our heart.