Psalm 32:8-9 (NIV)
When I was 8 years old, I took piano lessons. My instructor was a patient, kind master of music and she worked with me week after week as I learned where middle C was and how to gracefully play the scale with all my fingers instead of just one thumping on each piano key.
At first I practiced faithfully and was eager to learn each new piece of music she would give me. But after a while, I found it more fun to “do my own thing” when it came to playing. I still practiced but I was more determined to play each song MY way instead of how it was written and how she had taught me.
Week after week I would see her out of the corner of my eye, shaking her head “no” and, with a loud sigh, say “No, no dear one. Please play it again as I taught you.”
One afternoon as I gathered my piano music, I overheard the music teacher telling my mother that, after several months of practice, I had the ability to hear a song only once or twice and then to play it on the piano – in other words, I played by ear. However there was a problem with that, she continued.
She then explained that during my music lessons, I felt compelled to play each piece as I thought it should be played and not as it was written. She explained to my mother that it was part blessing and part curse to be born with that ability but that she would try to train me anyway.
Bless her heart, she was a wonderful teacher and she DID try, lesson after lesson, but I stubbornly fought her note by note by note. Eventually she threw her hands in the air and said “I think it would be best for you to stop piano lessons. It is just not working for you.” (which was a nice way of saying “You won’t listen to me and you won’t do as I ask, so I’m giving up on you!”)
As I reflect on how determined I was to NOT obey and how she finally, in frustration, gave up on me, I think of the Scripture from Psalms 32:8-9. God reminds us in those two verses that He is more than willing to guide us through life and He also instructs us to “not be like the horse or the mule” by refusing to listen to the Master’s voice.
The difference between my music teacher and the Lord is that, even when we deliberately ignore His direction for our lives, He doesn’t throw His hands up and say “I’m done! That’s it!” but rather continues encouraging us to come to Him again and again. He never stops pursuing us with an endless love - even if we run the other way and seek our own will.
My encouragement is this: toss that “I know how to play the piano” attitude and listen to the One Who can teach you how it truly should be done. But please know that, no matter how hard you try to stubbornly play each note your way, there is nothing you can do that will cause your Father to throw His hands up and say “You won’t listen to me and you won’t do as I ask, so I’m giving up on you!”
Instead, He will lovingly respond “No, no dear one. Please play it again as I taught you.” Trust Him and do not try to play it by ear.
Father, I truly do not understand your amazing patience and love for me, your child, that you never give up on me but continually call my name to seek your face. Right now I simply thank you for that love. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
R.A.P. it up . . .
Reflect
Bless her heart, she was a wonderful teacher and she DID try, lesson after lesson, but I stubbornly fought her note by note by note. Eventually she threw her hands in the air and said “I think it would be best for you to stop piano lessons. It is just not working for you.” (which was a nice way of saying “You won’t listen to me and you won’t do as I ask, so I’m giving up on you!”)
As I reflect on how determined I was to NOT obey and how she finally, in frustration, gave up on me, I think of the Scripture from Psalms 32:8-9. God reminds us in those two verses that He is more than willing to guide us through life and He also instructs us to “not be like the horse or the mule” by refusing to listen to the Master’s voice.
The difference between my music teacher and the Lord is that, even when we deliberately ignore His direction for our lives, He doesn’t throw His hands up and say “I’m done! That’s it!” but rather continues encouraging us to come to Him again and again. He never stops pursuing us with an endless love - even if we run the other way and seek our own will.
My encouragement is this: toss that “I know how to play the piano” attitude and listen to the One Who can teach you how it truly should be done. But please know that, no matter how hard you try to stubbornly play each note your way, there is nothing you can do that will cause your Father to throw His hands up and say “You won’t listen to me and you won’t do as I ask, so I’m giving up on you!”
Instead, He will lovingly respond “No, no dear one. Please play it again as I taught you.” Trust Him and do not try to play it by ear.
Father, I truly do not understand your amazing patience and love for me, your child, that you never give up on me but continually call my name to seek your face. Right now I simply thank you for that love. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
R.A.P. it up . . .
Reflect
Have you ever turned your back on God’s plan for you and followed a path away from Him?
Did you feel that He might give up on you because of what you had done?
Apply
Share your plans for your future with your accountability prayer partner.
Ask her to pray daily that you would listen to the Lord and seek His face as you make each decision along the way.
Power
Psalm 32:8-9 (NIV) “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you. Do not be like the horse or the mule, which have no understanding but must be controlled by bit and bridle or they will not come to you.”
Hebrews 13:5 (NIV) “…God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”
Isaiah 30:21 (NIV) “Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.”
(For more of Nancy Hughes' writing, check out her blog, Encouragement from the War Room.)
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