Daily Devotionals

Music For the Soul

Devotional: October 30th

SERVICE AND COMMUNION

Whoso offereth the sacrifice of thanksgiving glorifieth Me; and to him that ordereth his conversation aright will I show the salvation of God. - Psalms 50:23

It is not enough to patrol the temple courts unless we " lift up our hands to the Sanctuary," and with our hearts "bless the Lord." And all we who in any degree and any department are officially or semi-officially connected with the work of the Christian Church have very earnestly and especially to lay this to heart. We ministers, deacons, Sunday-school teachers, tract distributors, have much need to take care that we do not confound watching in the courts of the temple with lifting up our own hands and hearts to our Father that is in Heaven, and remember that the more outward work we do the more inward life we ought to have. The higher the stem of the tree grows, and the broader its branches spread, the deeper must strike and the wider must extend its underground roots, if it is not to be blown over and become a withered ruin.

And so will you take the plain lesson that is here: all ye that stand ready for service, and doing service, all " ye that stand in the House of the Lord, behold" - your peril and your duty - and "bless ye the Lord." And remember that the more work the more prayer to keep it from rotting; the more effort the more communion; and that at the end we shall discover with alarm, and with shame confess, " I kept others’ vineyards, and my own vineyards have I not kept "; unless, like our Master, we prepare for a day of work and toil in the temple by a night of quiet communion with our Father on the mountain-side.

And then there is another lesson, and that is that all times are times for blessing God. " Ye who by night stand in the House of the Lord, bless the Lord." So, though no sacrifice was smoking on the altar, and no choral songs went up from the company of praising priests in the ritual service, and although the nightfall had silenced the worship and scattered the worshipers, yet some low murmur of praise would be echoing through the empty halls all the night long, and the voice of thanksgiving and of blessing would blend with the clank of the priests’ feet on the marble pavements as they went their patrolling rounds; and their torches would send up a smoke not less acceptable than the wreathing columns of the incense that had filled the day. And so, as in some convents you will find a monk kneeling on the steps of the altar at each hour of the four-and-twenty, adoring the Sacrament exposed upon it, so (but in inmost reality and not in a mere vulgar outside form that means nothing) in the Christian heart there should be a perpetual adoration and a continual praise - a prayer without ceasing. What is it that comes first of all into your minds when you wake in the middle of the night? Yesterday’s business, to-morrow’s vanities, or God’s present love and your dependence upon Him?

In the night of sorrow, too, do our songs go up, and do we hear and obey the charge which commands not only perpetual adoration, but bids us fill the night with music and with praise? Well for us if it be, anticipating the time when "they rest not day nor night saying. Holy! Holy! Holy!"