PSALM 33
- Rejoice in the Lord, O ye righteous: for praise is comely for the upright.
- Praise the Lord with harp: sing unto Him with the psaltery and an instrument of ten strings.
- Sing unto Him a new song; play skilfully with a loud noise.
- For the Word of the Lord is right; and all His works are done in truth. KJV
DEFINITIONS
Skilfully -c) make well, sound beautiful; happy, successful, right, benefit, accepted, be better, make merry, content, diligent.
Psaltery -d) an ancient stringed instrument with a shallow sound box, played by plucking the strings.
I love this, Psalm. Anytime we are told to Praise the Lord, we are in for a blessing. He knows what we need and want. Praise makes us feel good. It makes us look good. It fights back the evil forces all around us. We need to praise the Lord all through the day and night to be spiritually healthy.
I had no idea what a Psaltery was. I thought it may be an ancient form of a guitar. So, I researched at little more and found a video of one someone had made and played it so beautifully. I have never seen anything like it. It was more like a very big violin with a lot more strings. It was being played with 2 bows and not plucked. Though it says you can pluck it I assume like a harp.
If the Lord says to play instruments and if He says to praise Him with the instruments as it says in Psalm 150:3 Praise Him with the sound of the trumpet: praise Him with the psaltery and harp, should we do it or leave it to talented musicians?
He does say to play skilfully. But what does skilfully actually mean? The Hebrew definition means to make merry, to be happy and successful, to be diligent and content. It must sound beautiful. But what is beautiful to the Lord? The true beauty is from the heart.
If someone is playing an instrument and is mad at someone and they can’t stop thinking what was done to them, is that a pleasing fragrance to the Lord? If that person is very gifted in playing an instrument but does not trust Jesus, is that right and successful in the eyes of the Lord? We know the answer.
He wants us to sing and play an instrument with a happy heart for Him. If we do that, He will make the instrument sound beautiful. It does not mean we can become a great musician in 10 days. But it does mean we can play any instrument the Lord chooses for us and be successful doing so if we do it unto Him and not to man.
That is what makes us different than the world. They get out on a stage and put on a show for the world to tell them how great they are. We do it to put on a show for the Lord so the world will know how great He is. Big Difference.
He blesses the right musicians and Satan flees. Which music should we listen to?