Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. (Ps. 150:6)
MUSICAL TALENT ESCAPED ME and my younger brother, but our other brother Bill took to music like a baby takes to ice cream. By age twelve, he was playing beautiful music on an electric Hawaiian guitar; and at eighteen, he joined a well-known country western band in western New York. He even provided accompaniment for a few famous Nashville recording artists. Eddie Arnold, one of those artists, gave me his autograph.
After becoming a believer in his late thirties, Bill transported his guitar to church, charity functions, and nursing homes, where he played beloved hymns. His favorite hymn was “Just a Closer Walk with Thee.” Only his death to cancer at age seventy-nine silenced his guitar—at least here on earth.
The Holy Spirit has used music to praise the Lord and bless His people, but you don’t have to play a musical instrument to praise Him. The psalmist listed a number of instruments to use for praising the Lord in the sanctuary, but he included people like me in his call to praise. As long as I can breathe, I can praise the Lord.
I am sure we have all heard a few church members sing off-key, but even the worst-sounding voices must surely please the Lord if the praise is offered “in spirit and in truth” (John 4:24).
Consider who God is and what He has done, and praise Him!
Jim Dyet was born in Scotland and grew up in Canada. Married almost sixty years, he and Gloria live in Colorado Springs, where Jim enjoys golf and daily walks with their dogs.
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