“‘[A]nd the sheep follow him (the shepherd) because they know his voice. And a stranger they simply will not follow, but will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers.'” (John 10:4b-5)
“JINGLE BELLS”
When I was a freshman in high school I decided I wanted to play the guitar.
And so my mom and dad signed me up for lessons, got me a guitar and the rest is history.
The first song I ever learned was “Jingle Bells.”
(After all, it was the holiday season at the time.)
And then over the course of the next few months and years, I would learn to play many more songs along with the various parts of the guitar, how to keep it in tune, the importance of the dreaded “Bar” chord, and how to develop an ear for music.
It’s this last area of learning to play the guitar I want to highlight and talk about.
AN EAR FOR MUSIC
My friends, I found myself literally spending hours listening to record albums (do you remember those?).
And then after time I could hear, whether it was a chord progression or a melody line – I could hear the notes and then play them on guitar.
I could hear the difference between an “A” chord versus a “B minor” or “C suspended.”
I could hear the difference – whether a lead solo was written in the key of “F sharp” or “G flat.”
(Those of you who know music will have caught me here? After all, “F sharp” is the same as “G flat”! Right?)
I guess what I’m trying to say with all this is, after much practice and many hours of listening (and patience!), I trained myself to distinguish the voice of the guitar and know exactly what it was saying in a particular song.
HEARING GOD’S VOICE
It’s where God wants each of us to be when it comes to hearing His voice.
But it’s also true that we must spend time “listening” so we’ll remain “sharp” as regards it (no musical pun intended?!).
The “record album” is the Word of God, if you will, we must be “listening” to.
As we fill our minds with it, our spirits will remain “in tune.”
And we’ll be trained to distinguish between the voice of God versus that which sounds “flat” (the devil’s).
(Playing an electric guitar picture courtesy of nzgabriel via CC BY 2.0)
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