We praise you, Lord, for all your glorious power.
With music and singing we celebrate your mighty acts.

Psalm 21:13 (NLT)

Singing In Christianity

Singing is peculiar to revealed religion. You find it but rarely in other religions. You find it but rarely in lodges, clubs, or associations. Singing was so much a part of the Hebrew faith that the hymnal (the Book of Psalms) was in the middle of the Bible. Singing is so important to Christian faith that more than 500,000 Christian hymns have been written.

Though the Church went singing into the world from her foundation, music is to her not an absolute necessity but a most beautiful and desirable embellishment.

– Alec Robertson

Daily Meditations by Pat Nordman Š

August 31

"He...was...asleep...; and they awoke Him and said to Him, "`Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?'" (Mark 4:38 NAS). Many a weary and grieving soul has cried this. The storms are sudden and devastating. Is God sleeping through our turmoil? It is a cry of faith that knows the Master can save us, and yet nonfaith, for we are tempted to ask if He will save us.

We sleep through each others' Gethsemane moments, just as the disciples slept through Jesus' agony: "Could you...not keep watch with Me for one hour?" (Matthew 26:40). When our ship seems to be sinking, let us remember that our extremity is God's opportunity to show His love.

Pat Nordman Š

Excerpts from today's Spurgeon's Devotions With links to the entire devotion
Spurgeon's Morning for August 31	Spurgeon's Evening for August 31
"On mine arm shall they trust." – Isaiah 51:5	"If we walk in the light, as he is in the light." — John 1:7
In seasons of severe trial, the Christian has nothing on earth that he can trust to, and is therefore compelled to cast himself on his God alone. When his vessel is on its beam-ends, and no human deliverance can avail, he must simply and entirely trust himself to the providence and care of God. Happy storm that wrecks a man on such a rock as this!	I cannot dwell in the sun, it is too bright a place for my residence, but I can walk in the light of the sun; and so, though I cannot attain to that perfection of purity and truth which belongs to the Lord of hosts by nature as the infinitely good, yet I can set the Lord always before me, and strive, by the help of the indwelling Spirit, after conformity to his image.

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August 31 La 3:1 - 5:22

365 days of Bible Readings Linked to Bible Gaitway TM

Current Bible Question

What instruments did John hear in his vision of the heavenly throne?

Previous question and Answer:

Who is the woman that played a timbrel and led the women of Israel in a victory song after the Red Sea incident?

Miriam (Exodus 15:20-21)

Today's Devotion

But my mouth would encourage you;
comfort from my lips would bring you relief.
Job 16:5 (NIV)

Knowing IN Yourselves:
Dare to Believe

by Cathy Vinson

"...knowing in yourselves that you have in Heaven a better and an enduring substance"

(Hebrews 10:34)

What sort of knowing in an inner person joyfully accepts the plundering of one's goods (vs 34)? What sort of knowing reaches out to the angry, or faces anew personal areas previously of defeat? What sort of worth and value is placed on what is within to step far and wide of comfort? It must
be a knowing what is within is undefeatable, incorruptible, and will last forever.

Oh, how we need to know that IN ourselves is such greatness, not in us, but in a Person! Dare we believe? "Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world" (1 John 4:4). What a scandalous faith has been granted us from the beginning! The Father purposely chose the time in which the baby Jesus would lie in a dingy manger under the ominous shadow of King Herod's magnificent 45-acre hilltop palace. Jesus' stable, Bethlehem, with the surrounding countryside, all loomed in its shadow. All human activities in its reach were done under its reminder, its oppression. Yet "Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king..." (Mt 2:1). What is God saying?

Dare we believe as the shepherds and wisemen and risk all in the face of the tyrant king to worship a tiny baby who is the true King? Since the beginning, God has chosen that our believing must be this way, a dare. Can we?

"I am able to do all things through Christ who gives me strength" (Phil 4:13). "Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Col 1:27). Dare we then rise up knowing all the world's evil thrown our way is not new to our day; it overshadowed the very birth of Jesus. Let us have that same "knowing in ourselves" we can and will overcome the challenges of our own evil day and that to come.

In our tiny heart is the One who causes such confidence. Today. Dare. We must.

Cathy VinsonŠ

Send a note to Cathy Vinson , the writer of this devotion.

Dare we then rise up knowing all the world's evil thrown our way is not new to our day; it overshadowed the very birth of Jesus. Let us have that same "knowing in ourselves" we can and will overcome the challenges of our own evil day and that to come.

Other Whispers from the Wilderness Devotions are found HERE

Music in the Bible

The Flute

The mashrikitha is most often translated as "flute" in the Bible. It was actually a big pipe with a mouthpiece. It produced a sharp, penetrating sound, similar to an oboe. Because of the penetrating sound it was used in processions (Isa 30:29). It was popular for both secular and religious events. It was not mentioned as an instrument of the first temple orchestra, but was sometimes allowed in the second temple.

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~ Spiritual Breathlessness ~

A MAN is said to be breathless when he is out of breath or much exhausted and unfit for work. What a fuss some people make when they do a little work for the cause of Christ. They are out of breath for a week after it, and can talk about nothing else. It is wonderful how long-winded some professing Christians are when talking about the things of the world, and yet they pant and puff and seem utterly breathless when spiritual things are being dealt with. This spiritual asthma is the result of diseased respiratory organs, brought on by breathing the foul air of worldliness, and neglecting the fresh and healthful air of secret prayer and holy fellowship with God. A man not filled with the Holy Ghost will always be a breathless man. Breathless men make poor workmen. "Be filled with the Spirit"

James Smith, Handfuls on Purpose, vol. 1, (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdman Publishing Co., 1971).