Whose Harps?

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University
“Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.” Berthold Auerbach (German novelist, 1812-1882)

"We played the flute for you and you did not dance." Matt. 11:17

My good friend Margaret Canavon just shared about a Peruvian harp concert, though the harpist was actually a Cuban who grew up in Venezuela and gave up his medical practice to play and teach harp in California (figure that out!). The miraculous provision of a harp when he was an impoverished youth in Cuba reminded me of my own harp miracle...

When I was young my parents could not afford instruments so I made my own--garden-hose flutes and panpipes, Quaker oatmeal box drums, wooden cigar-box guitars, stick and string violins. The first major purchase I ever made was a guitar. And while in the Air Force in Taiwan I fell in love with the Chinese zheng (zither, harp), so I was delighted when years later, Sue bought me a Chinese harp for my wedding present in Taiwan. But while returning from our Taiwan honeymoon, I left my beautiful Chinese harp on a San Francisco airport bus.

I was so discouraged. I'd lost my wedding present even before I got it home--and there was no identification on it or in it, so no way for it to be returned to me. But to my surprise, a month later I was called to the school's office--and there was my harp! Someone had found it on the San Francisco bus and somehow traced it to me, and delivered it right to my school in Los Angeles! I had no idea even who to thank, but I certainly knew to thank my Father, who went to so much trouble to return a Chinese harp to his careless child because He knew how important the harp was to me. He also appreciate the importance of music to me.

Music --the Language of God. Mathematics is often called the language of God, but if so, I think math is the written word, and music his spoken word, his actual voice. We see mathematics at work in the order and genius of creation, but we hear the music within our hearts and souls. Good music lifts us up, and heals, as it resonates with our Father's song within. Good music transports me back to the time when we walked hand-in-hand with our Father in the Garden.

But what happens when music, even the sweetest, does not reinforce but replaces the Song within us? Amos (6:1,4,5,7--see below) wrote that complacent Israel would be exiled because of their feasts and wine and "sweet music," which served only to deaden them to their inner emptiness, and to the injustice around them.

The Day My Music Died Before marriage, my house in Texas had little furniture but it did have wall to wall shelves for my books and my hundreds of record albums (real records--the vinyl kind). I had every genre imaginable, from classic and Gregorian Chants to Celtic and 70s Rock. I lived and breathed music, but I slowly realized my obsession with music was beginning to silence the music within. I struggled with the growing inner silence, and in the end decided to give up the music, at least for awhile.

Jesus said, "If your hand offends you, cut it off..." I piled my hundreds of albums in the back yard and set them ablaze. As clouds of black smoke wafted heavenward, like some hellish offering in an Oriental temple, I felt as if part of me died with my record collection. But I also felt an unexpected sense of relief and release, like an addict who had survived going "cold turkey."

For a couple years, the only music I listened to was what I played on my guitar and other instruments. Today, I again enjoy others' music but I am careful that the music outside of me never again desensitizes me to the music within--that still, small voice that not only whispers but also sings softly to His child.

In closing...I certainly do not recommend burning your music! Music is one of God's greatest gifts to his children. But if it should threaten to supplant the Song within us, it would be better to feast on the Sounds of Silence for awhile.

Related Blog:
The Sounds Within the Silence

New Day, New Song (Karaoke Theology)
Related verses:
"...holding harps of God." Rev. 15:2 NAS

Amo 6:1, 4, 5,7 "Woe to you who are complacent in Zion,...You lie on beds inlaid with ivory and lounge on your couches. You dine on choice lambs and fattened calves.You strum away on your harps like David and improvise on musical instruments....Therefore you will be among the first to go into exile; your feasting and lounging will end.

Isaiah 14:11 "Your pomp and the music of your harps have been brought down to Sheol (the grave)." NAS
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