Paul’s songs: The Lesson of the Tambourine, by Barbara Alexander, Villers-St-Paul, France

But Jesus receives highest honor

Romans 14:11 [Isaiah 45:23] “As surely as I live,” says the Lord, “every knee will bend to me, and every tongue will confess and give praise to God.”

Philippians 2:9-11 [Isaiah 45:23] God elevated Jesus to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

My friend Barb lives in a small village in northern France. She’s very active in this community. Here’s Barb:

Yesterday morning, as is usual for most every Sunday in my life, I went to church. I long ago noted that drums are the only percussion instrument played during the worship time. So, being a musical person myself, I bring my little tambourine-on-a-stick in my purse each week, and I play it appropriately to add to the spirit of the livelier songs.

Occasionally one of the little kids in church (who know me from being in our home group together) sidles up to me with a hand outstretched toward my tambourine, ready to play it. Yesterday it was little 5-year-old Paul. So I placed his right hand on the wooden stick, tapping his left palm to the beat of the music, as he’s seen me do. My hands remained on top of his hands to make sure he played the instrument correctly.

We were both enjoying the dinging sound of the tambourine and how it added to the joy of the worship songs as I guided his hands. But every now and then Paul would begin his own rhythm and tapping, and I could feel his resistance to my guidance. When this began happening, I tried to gently encourage him. “Relax, Paul,” I’d say. “Let my hands help you do the rhythm.” After these words, he’d ease up and let me guide him, which kept a better rhythm than he made on his own. And we both enjoyed the sound we heard and were pleased with our contribution to the worship time.

In the midst of this experience, the thought occurred to me that it’s just like what God wants to do in my life. It was as if I heard Him saying, “Relax, my daughter – let My hands – My infinite hands – guide yours, let Me make the music you’re trying to make, and let Me send it through your life to those around you.” Wow! What a message!!

And the more I thought on it, the more it struck me how true it is – He’s got His infinite hands on my finite ones, and if I don’t resist Him, He will guide me to fulfill His perfect will for my life – He’ll make His music – the BEST music – in my life for those around me to hear – His words drawing them to Himself. All because I submitted to Him as my Sovereign Guide to help me “play my tambourine.”

I guess it all boils down to submission, doesn’t it? Just like little Paul, when he submitted to the guidance of my adult hands covering his childish ones. My prayer now: “Father, help me to see where I’m resisting You in my life, where I’m not letting You make Your music in and through me. I now submit to Your infinite Lordship. In Jesus’ Powerful, Almighty Name, Amen.”

Praise him with the tambourine and dancing; praise him with strings and flutes! Psalm 150:4

Hungry

But God’s Spirit teaches us

Nehemiah 9:20 [In a prayer rehearsing God’s goodness to Israel after Ezra reads the Law of Moses to the people] You sent your good Spirit to instruct them. [Other versions say “teach.”)

John 14:26 [Jesus told his disciples] But when the Father sends the Advocate [paraclete: Comforter, Encourager, Counselor] as my representative—that is, the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything that I have told you.

1 John 2:27 For the Holy Spirit teaches you …

So far in this little survey of the Holy Spirit active in the Old Testament we’ve seen him as creator, supreme artisan, wise adviser/burden bearer, source of power, and communicator.

Since God doesn’t change, it’s not surprising to see the Spirit playing these same roles in the New Testament. Today’s topic is no exception. The Holy Spirit teaches us, as he taught the people of Israel in ancient times. Jesus, the master teacher, filled with the Spirit, told the disciples it was better for him to go away, because the Spirit can be present to each of us, as Jesus in his human body could not be.

Nehemiah 8 and 9 describe people hungry and thirsty to understand God’s instructions. They longed to live in keeping with God’s wisdom. In chapter 8, they stood for three hours listening closely (v. 3) as Ezra read the law of Moses to them. A month or so later, they again stood for three hours listening to the law, and then for another three hours confessing their sins—all the ways they had broken God’s law—and worshiping God.

Have you ever been as hungry and thirsty as that, not just for a Fourth of July barbecue, but longing to understand how to please God, in love with him and thrilled to honor his greatness? In chapter 8, the people celebrated “with great joy because they had heard God’s words and understood them” (v. 12).

Immediately after, Israel put into practice what they were learning. It led to a dramatic change of priorities and lifestyle, resulting in health and harmony among them.

I appreciate this prayer by Joseph Mercier, 1851-1926, noted for his strong resistance to German occupation of Belgium during World War I. Many around him were killed and buildings destroyed. It’s a fervent prayer in the throes of great trouble and stress. Today I think of the courageous people of Ukraine who persist in their work for God while missiles fall around them.

O Holy Spirit, beloved of my soul, I adore you. Enlighten me, guide me, strengthen me, console me. Tell me what I should do; give me your orders. I promise to submit myself to all that you desire of me and to accept all that you permit to happen to me. Let me only know your will.

But God views time differently

Acts 27:1-3 When the time came, we set sail for Italy. Paul and several other prisoners were placed in the custody of a Roman officer named Julius, a captain of the Imperial Regiment. … Julius was very kind to Paul and let him go ashore [at Sidon] to visit with friends so they could provide for his needs.

Galatians 4:4 (also Romans 5:6, 1 Timothy 2:6, Titus 1:3) But when the right time came, God sent his Son …

Will we meet Captain Julius in heaven? I wouldn’t be surprised!

Did God delay Paul’s journey to Rome for more than two years just so he could know Julius? It’s an interesting question, I think, in light of Jesus’ parable about how much he cares for individual people (Luke 15:3-7).

But—two years! More than two years stuck in prison in Caesarea, dragged out now and then to “entertain” the guys in power with his bizarre beliefs?

Again and again in Scripture, I’m puzzled by God’s sense of timing. Israel waited for the Messiah for centuries—more than four hundred years after the last prophecy of his coming. In what way was that particular starry night in Bethlehem “the right time”?

Questions to ask in Heaven (if I still care).

I thought about timing yesterday at a Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra concert—the opening weekend celebration of the first in-house concerts since Covid began. Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4 evoked childhood evenings in the village of Nebaj, Guatemala. If we had electricity, Dad spun his disks while we five or six or seven kids read books or made jigsaw puzzles in our small living room, the fireplace adding warmth on chilly nights. Dad loved Tchaikovsky, the sweetness and the thunder.

There’s so much that goes into music of this caliber, I mused yesterday as the woodwinds danced with each other through Glinka and Ravel. The musicians bring their skill and their instruments, of course. But they also bring a willingness to submit their wills to the conductor’s baton. If any one of them decided to play by his or her own timing, the whole performance would be ruined. Implicit in each one’s choice to join the orchestra is the ability to blend, to add to the whole his or her hard-won skill as designated by the score.

I wonder whether any of them questions the conductor’s decisions, in practice or in private, as I sometimes question God about the timing of events in my own or other’s lives.

And I wonder how different our world might be if each of us were willing to watch, trust, and submit to our Conductor’s baton.

A side note: The only way I’ve figured out to honor my no-screens-on-Sundays practice is to switch But God postings from Sundays and Wednesdays to Mondays and Thursdays–not that I’ve always been consistent. But that’s my intent. Some of you were kind enough to notice I missed a couple of weeks around our son’s wedding and a retreat with several of my siblings. Life happens!