Out of Tune

And I will give them singleness of heart and put a new spirit within them. I will take away their stony, stubborn heart and give them a tender, responsive heart, so they will obey my decrees and regulations. Then they will truly be my people, and I will be their God.
Ezekiel 11:19-20 NLT

I have an old upright piano that was in need of tuning, so I called someone who advertised well and had a median price and had him come to the house. A family member met with him because I was at work. Throughout the day, I thought about the joy of having a piano that was in tune. I could hardly wait to get home!

Finally, I arrived. I sat down to play "How Great Thou Art" - it's one of my favorites and... I was so disappointed! I thought perhaps he must have had a cold and his ears were stuffed up. Honestly, I don't know what he used to tune the instrument, but it certainly wasn't anything with true pitch. The sound is awful.

And no, I haven't called him... yet. It's Valentine's Day and he might have been taking his wife to dinner, or he might have had church tonight. And I'm not sure I would have been gracious. So, I thought I would give myself some time to see what the Lord would teach me in this. And here's what I got from it so far.

As Christians, we want to be in tune with the Father. We want to hear the beauty of His Words, His melodies, His peace in our hearts and minds. We have an expectation of how He will sound. However, we don't always utilize the right tools. Sometimes, we hear about the latest, greatest book with a message and decide we need to read it. And sometimes, we've only allotted so much time during our day to read, so we read that book in place of our Bible, instead of reading it along with our Bible. And before you know it, we're out of tune. We're out of tune with the Spirit. We're out of tune with each other. And that truly is awful!

Nothing can take the place of God's Word. That's not to say that other books are not good; they can be and often are! But NOTHING should take the place of God's Word in our lives. Being out of tune with Him is the worst...

Prayer:

Father,
            Thank You for working all things for our good. Reveal Your wisdom to us and grant us revelation and understanding according to Your Word. And heal the ears of the man who tried to tune my piano today. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen