Day 45
…they sought
the Levites in all their places to bring them to Jerusalem to celebrate the
dedication with gladness, with thanksgiving and with singing, with cymbals, harps,
and lyres.
Nehemiah
12:27
In
recent years, there has been a lot of discussion about worship, worship styles,
and worship approaches. Usually the discussion boils down to people’s
preferences. In defense of their preferences, they will attempt to use scripture
or empty arguments about how rich the old is and how empty the new is. The
problem with all of this is that it is off point. In other words, it is not
even an issue of whether the arguments are right or wrong, they are the wrong
arguments.
In
Nehemiah 12, we see a celebration taking place. The wall around Jerusalem has
been completed. People are moving back into the city. Worship has been
reestablished and the glory of God is on display. As the people come together
to dedicate the wall, they join together in worship.
As
we examine the worship that is taking place in Nehemiah 12, we discover several
things. First, we see that there was gladness. The people were excited about
what God had done. Second, we see that there was thanksgiving. The people knew
that it was because of God’s blessing that they had accomplished what had been
done. Third, there is singing. There is singing that involved all kinds of
instruments.
As
you can see, the focus was on God, on celebration, and on giving thanks. There
is no mention of worship orders, what types of songs were sung, or what the
people’s preferences were. Just and absolute focus on all that God had done.
May
the attitude of their hearts be the attitude of ours. May our focus be on
celebration and praise, as oppose to styles, instrumentation, and songs.
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