Praise the Lord with melodies on the lyre;
make music for him on the ten-stringed harp.

Psalm 33:2 (NLV)

John Wesley said, “Beware of singing as if you were half dead or half asleep. Lift up your voices with strength. Be no more afraid of your voice now, or more ashamed of its being heard, than when you sang the songs of Satan.”

William Booth was criticized for the gaiety of some of the hymns sung at his meetings. He replied, “Is the devil to have all the good tunes?”

Daily Meditations by Pat Nordman Š

August 18

"The garment of praise..." (Isaiah 61:3)

"A people cannot be regenerated by teaching them the worship of enjoyment; they cannot be taught a spirit of sacrifice by speaking to them of material rewards...Say to men, Come, suffer; you will hunger and thirst...be betrayed, cursed; but you have a great duty to accomplish: they will be deaf, perhaps, for a long time, to the severe voice of virtue; but on the day that they do come to you, they will come as heroes, and will be invincible." Mazzani.

Pat Nordman Š

Excerpts from today's Spurgeon's Devotions
Spurgeon's Morning for August 18	Spurgeon's Evening for August 18
"Strangers are come into the sanctuaries of the Lord's house." – Jeremiah 51:51	"And they gave him to drink wine mingled with myrrh: but he received it not." — Mark 15:23
Let us examine ourselves as to our right to eat at the Lord's table. Let us see to it that we have on our wedding garment, lest we ourselves be intruders in the Lord's sanctuaries.	On the heights of heaven the Son of God stood of old, and as he looked down upon our globe he measured the long descent to the utmost depths of human misery; he cast up the sum total of all the agonies which expiation would require, and abated not a jot.

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August 18 Jer 15:1 - 18:23

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Current Bible Question

What type of bird fed the prophet Elijah?

Previous question and Answer:

What was the name of the queen whose blood was sprinkled on horses?

Jezebel (2 Kings 9:30-33)

Today's Devotion

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

Adding Insult to Injury

by Cathy Vinson

" cursing (him) as he went by and throwing stones at him and showering him with dirt"

(2 Sam 16:13)

We may one day be walking a life's crisis only to find someone adding another hardship. Nothing could seem more untimely! "Is this some sort of mistake, God? This was already all I could bear." Such was the case with David (2 Sam 16). Can you imagine, he is barefoot and weeping leaving his throne because of Absalom's conspiracy, and what's this? "A man from the same clan as Saul's family came out" (vs 5). A tirade of words followed...calling him a man of blood, a scoundrel, that he was getting what he deserved and that he had merely been reigning in the rightful throne of Saul. David was also getting hit by his thrown stones and flying dirt.

What miserable moments in an already distressful time! These were moments that in their duration left David and his people "exhausted" (vs 14).

So how did David respond with this insult being added to his injury? He "received" it (vs 12). It was his hour of "distress." Why would he allow himself to be struck down lower than his already lowest?

He saw that God "told" Shimei to curse him. God was behind it. If he received this, God might look upon him favorably. God might "repay me with good" (vs 12) by receiving this extra destruction upon his heartsick soul.

Such grave lowness is rare, the worst having even some extra leaking in upon it. David knew his God. In his godly heart towards a faithful God, he saw that perhaps God was allowing this extra distress to pull Him into "debt" to David. This misfuortune in light of the God he loved was an opportunity for good to come his way, for God to "repay."

May we remember this. It may help us know how to respond to a very untimely happening, when our Shimei "comes out cursing" at the very worst moment of our life.

Cathy VinsonŠ

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

"We may one day be walking a life's crisis only to find someone adding another hardship. Nothing could seem more untimely! "Is this some sort of mistake, God?"

Other Whispers from the Wilderness Devotions are found HERE

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~ Let Him Play ~

In a large stone cathedral in Europe there was a large, magnificent pipe organ. It was a Saturday afternoon, and the sexton was making one final check of the choir and organ loft high in the balcony at the back of the church. He was startled to hear footsteps echoing up the stone stairway, as he thought the doors were all locked and no one was around. He turned to see a man in slightly tattered traveling clothes coming toward him. "Excuse me, sir," the stranger said. "I have come from quite a distance to see the great organ in this cathedral. Would you mind opening the console so that I might get a closer look at it?" The custodian at first refused, but the stranger seemed so eager and insistent that he finally gave in. "May I sit on the bench?" That request of the stranger was met with absolute refusal by the cathedral custodian. "What if the organist came in and found you sitting there? I would probably lose my job!" But again the stranger was so persistent that the sexton gave in. "But only for a moment," he added.

The custodian noticed that the stranger seemed to be very much at home on the organ bench, so he was not completely surprised when he was asked by the stranger to be allowed to play the organ. "No! Definitely not!" said the custodian. "No one is allowed to play it except the cathedral organist." The man's face fell, and his deep disappointment was obvious. He reminded the custodian how far he had come and assured him that no damage would be done. Finally the sexton relented and told the stranger he could play the instrument, but only a few notes and then he would have to leave. Overjoyed, the stranger pulled out some stops and began to play. Suddenly the cathedral was filled with the most beautiful music the custodian had ever heard in all his years in that place. The music seemed to transport him heavenward.

In what seemed all too short a time, the dowdy stranger stopped playing and slid off the organ bench. And started down the stairway. "Wait!" cried the custodian. "That was the most beautiful music I have ever heard in the cathedral. Who are you?" The stranger turned for just a moment as he replied, "Mendelssohn." The man was none other than Felix Mendelssohn, one of the greatest organists and composers of the nineteenth century!

The cathedral sexton was alone now in that great stone edifice, the beautiful organ music still ringing in his ears. "Just think," he said softly, "I almost kept the master from playing his music in my cathedral!"

Each one of us has the opportunity to have a personal relationship with the Master of the universe, Jesus Christ. Let's not keep Him from "playing His music" and being Master of our lives!

—James S. Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited (Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc, 1988) pp. 71-72.