Psalm 150
(NIV)
1 Praise the Lord.
Praise God in His sanctuary;
praise Him in His mighty heavens.
2 Praise Him for His acts of power;
praise Him for His surpassing greatness.
3 Praise Him with the sounding of the trumpet,
praise Him with the harp and lyre,
4 praise Him with timbrel and dancing,
praise Him with the strings and pipe,
5 praise Him with the clash of cymbals,
praise Him with resounding cymbals.
6 Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.
As a Christian and as a musician, I have always drawn upon this scripture to support not only where my heart was/is when I worship, but to defend why we have instruments in church.
When I toured professionally I had stickers on the front of my bass drum to show who my sponsors were, but there was one sticker that graced the front of each of my drum kits regardless of what others were affixed to the head – it read: Psalm 150:5. I was asked once to remove that sticker from my kit and I refused, even though I knew that it would make no difference to me as the scripture was already engraved on my heart regardless if it was visible or not.
We adorn ourselves with clothing, and jewelry; arrange ourselves through hairdos and makeup. But all of this external preparation lends nothing to how we should worship God. Do we label ourselves for others to read what they may suspect or do we remove all doubt through our actions in worship? My challenge to you is to open your heart and lead those around you in a way that there is no need to read a sticker to believe where you are and where your heart is during worship and your walk.