Can God Reject Your Music As a Gospel Musician?

Overture

"Now, I've heard there was a secret chord / that David played, and it pleased the Lord" are the first two lines of Leonard Cohen's famous Hallelujah, and you may wonder what chord it was that pleased God.

David, who later became king, was very worshipful with his music and songs, and he was even described as "a man after [the Lord's] own heart" (1 Samuel 13:14). On a blog called RonEdmondson, you will find highlighted elements of David's character that made him please the Lord. Even when David fell, he had such a repentant heart which was demonstrated in his posture and music; though God rejected Saul as king over Israel for his disobedience, he, yet, accommodated David despite his fall.

Depiction of  King David's Lyre

I came across this anonymous message on my choir's WhatsApp page, and just as advised in the message, I wanted to share it. It caused me to think about David as a musician, and it has aroused my interest in learning more about David. The text has been slightly modified regarding formatting and minor errors:

Amos 5:21-23

21. I hate your show and pretence - your hypocrisy of honouring me with your religious feasts and solemn assemblies.

22. I will not accept your burnt offerings and thank offerings. I will not look at your offerings of peace.

23. Away with your hymns of praise - they are mere noise to my ears. I will not listen to your music, no matter how lovely it is. 

Now it has gotten to the point where most singers and instrumentalists sing and play for fame. Even in the church. We have turned giving God glory into receiving the glory for ourselves. We don't sing from our hearts any longer. Oh, and when it is getting to one of the biggest programmes in church, where we are sure a lot of people will attend, that is when we come for rehearsals and those who don't come at all are first to come. God is seriously fed up with that. He is not a f**l to be played with like that. 

Most of us are no longer humble because we feel we have arrived. Oh yes! "Without me leading that song or standing behind the mic, the song would not sound nice." That is a lie from the devil's pit. God gave us the talents. Why don't we use them to praise him. Because of all these and the kind of life we live everyday, our singing now sounds like clanging cymbals or a confused drummer playing all the bad sounds you can imagine. Enough of the pride and laziness. Enough of the shyness (that is also pride). 

When all these things are out of our lives and we lift up worship, oh God! God will descend. His presence will be felt deeply. His presence will be a great covering upon us. 

1 Samuel 16: 18 says David was a skillful player, a man of valour, a man of war, prudent, handsome, and [what's] more? The LORD was with Him.

How well do we rehearse the songs and instrumentals so we will be skillful, how often do we go to war (PRAY), and is the Lord with us?

[It's] time we changed our attitude. Worship is also not about the singing. How do we treat the people around us? What do we do in our secret places? Do we change colours when we come to church and when we go home? Those little things we do are what will determine if we are really worshipping God. My pastor once said that the lives we live from Monday to Saturday is what determines the real Christian you are. Let's change our ways. Fine, we have flesh covering us but we are spirit and the devil is fighting us. Let's fight back by putting on the whole armour of God (Ephesians 6:13-17).

God bless you and have a nice day. Please help me share this to other choir platforms.

Read and examine your lives. 

Remember that He will judge what we do. We are also Pastors. We use the Word in singing. It is not just a show we do. 

Much love.

Postlude

In the message, you would sense the passion that was attached in composing this write-up. The writer draws our attention to the urgency to abandon the vainglory that we seek and to offer our all, especially our vocal and musical skills, as "a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service" (Romans 12:1). I hope to get in touch with the author of this write-up for proper acknowledgement as you help spread this article.