Sing a Song part 17

Both Isaiah (Is 30:29,32) and Jeremiah (Jer 31:4) speak of using songs and instruments once again to praise God. When? Are we to decide this? No, God is. It appears in Revelation 14:23 and in Revelation 18:2 that this will happen in heaven, when there is no competition, no jealousy, no jockeying for position as the highest in God's Kingdom. There are references by Paul to the psalms (which could either be songs sung with or without an instrument). Paul also says, "Speak" (Ephesians 5:17) and his point is not about making music at a,,, but to know what one is singing so that worship is in the mind and the heart. Daniel in Dan 3:5 also warned against the use of instruments in false worship to a King that was denying God. When do I deny God by the use of instruments? One instance was given above, when I say to God that my voice is not as good as the instrument that I have fashioned, that what God has allowed on this earth is nowhere as good as what I can do with my hands or feet. I am denying that God is above all and can create something so beautiful our of something that may sound horrible to the normal ear. Does that mean that He changes my voice? No, but He allows me to rejoice in my weakness and humility, to know that He is the focus, not my voice. And not my instrumentation. What are the instances when I deny God? By saying that my instrument can portray Him better than His Word. Think about this, why don't we have a copy of David's music to the Psalms? Or better said, why are only the words presented in God's Word. Why are the words all that is left of the Psalms? Perhaps because God wants us to meditate and think about Him. Can music aid? Certainly but it does not instruct nor increase our knowledge of Him. To put it another way is the prophet Amos. Amos is the prophet that gives methe word of warning. Amos is like a cold rag that slaps me across the face when the heat of a passion that is inconsistent with God takes place. I thank God for Amos. In Amost 6:15, the prophet warns the people of Isreal for being complacent in their Judaism, for lounging and feasting and taking the music as entertainment for their benefit. He chastises them for making God an errand boy, playing their instruments with a crude imitation of religion. Amos in Amos 8:10 then warnsof the mourning that is to come because of this. "And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentations; and i will bring up sackcloth upon all loins and baldness upon every head; and I will make it as the mourning of an only son and the end thereof of a bitter day." When I become complacent in my Christianity, when I am to the point that I say, "I am fine and oding well" and don't add the words, "because of God, not me" I am truly forgetting what it is God has done for me. He got me through three major surgeries. He showed me my sin when I thought, I rationalized, that He wouldn't mind. He showed me that I needed more compassion, more love toward my brethren, and above all He gave me salvation through His Son. How much more can He give me? Only He knows and I love Him so. And I will sing to Him always. This is what He wants. From me. Singing is personal to Himand it is to be so to me as well. What of instruments? Instruments demonstrate what a human cna do, a voice is what God has done. While I love instruments, my best worship is done using my voice to His glory.