A Night at the Symphony
PLAYING YOUR PART IN GOD’S GREAT HALL
Imagine you enter a behemoth of a room with balconies, hundreds of rows of chairs, ornate decorative stylings, and a brightly lit stage at the very front of it all. Large, oddly shaped carpets adorn the walls of this venue. You find your dimly lit seat in the middle of a narrow aisle surrounded by thousands of others eagerly waiting to enjoy a night of thunderous sounds, sweeping melodies, and enchanting music—a night at the symphony. You’ve found your seat early, and you notice that the musicians are already on stage warming up. Listening to these master craftsmen tune, strum, beat, and pluck, it’s clear they’ve spent hours preparing for tonight’s performance, but it sounds frankly disastrous at the moment. The resounding booms from the tubas overpower the screeches from the violins. The thunder from the timpani clashes out of sync with the cellists’ melodious bellows. The trumpet section is so shrill it’s obnoxious.
But then the conductor shows up. They confidently stride to the conductor’s podium at the front of the orchestra as the audience surrounds them in applause. When they raise a single hand, the great hall falls instantly silent. Like a soldier awaiting orders, the musicians focus intensely on the baton in the conductor’s hand, ready to follow along and play whatever they’ve planned and rehearsed.
STRUCTURE
God is a lot like a conductor. He’s in charge and has a plan and a desire for how things will go to keep everyone moving forward at the appropriate time. As the night of music unfolds before you, you can’t help but wonder, what if the whole orchestra decided not to listen to the conductor in charge? Without the cooperation of every musician, the music the conductor planned suffers. God, too, cannot stand rogue players. Proverbs 17:11 tells us, “An evil man seeks only rebellion” (ESV). However, when God’s people follow His plan like musicians playing their instruments according to His instructions, a beautiful song results.
When people play out of tune, it’s not pretty.
“The abrasive sound is jarring and can cause physical discomfort.”
DISSONANCE
When people play out of tune, it’s not pretty. The abrasive sound is jarring and can cause physical discomfort. J.R.R Tolkien knew this when he created the world of Middle Earth in his series, The Lord of The Rings. Tolkien’s fictional representation of God in this saga sings all of creation into existence. He lets some of his angelic creations join in song to help take part in further creation, but one rebellious creation didn’t want to sing in unison with the rest and rebelled in disobedience. This act of selfish, uncooperative, disjointed rebellion ends up introducing all the evil, sin, and chaos into creation.1 In the first book of the Bible, the third chapter of Genesis tells of Adam and Eve’s rebellion and their disobedience to God. They chose their way over what God had for them, and it resulted in the fall of all humanity and introduced sin, evil, and pain into our lives. All of the creation became fractured by sin. We still suffer the consequences of this to this day.
HARMONY
It’s essential to play your part correctly. Musicians need to spend time practicing on their own to know their part in the symphony. More importantly, when gathered together, they need to follow along with the one in charge to play together properly. God is in control, not just on Sunday or at a Bible study. He’s in charge always. He’s got a plan for you, and He’s trying to lead you there. He wants you to listen to Him. Thankfully, God is good, like really good. Jeremiah 29:11 says, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope” (ESV). Not listening to God in your life will result in dissonant, disjointed pain. Your relationship with Jesus will suffer, the relationships you have with others will suffer, and the Christians around you trying to make beautiful music by obeying God and fighting sin will suffer. If you trust God every day with your life, the symphony He is writing you into will be infinitely better than anything you could have come up with on your own.
“If you trust God every day with your life, the symphony He is writing you into will be infinitely better than anything you could have come up with on your own.”
MUSIC TO MY EARS
When you join God’s meticulously crafted and intentionally arranged plan, it produces a kind of music far above our human capabilities to describe. God lets us enjoy it, allows us to create it, and lets us partake in it. When we join with others and cooperate, our individual “noise” winds up in its perfect spot. We’re not describing uniformity here, where every instrument plays the same droning note, but unity, where each one contributes its unique sound and timing to the same song. Getting on board and cooperating with Him is the first step to a lifetime of playing our predestined part. If we want to produce anything beautiful and have harmony with each other, where everyone is in sync, on the same page, on the same mission, and with the same end goal in mind, we need to follow along and listen to the One in charge.
“The trumpeters and musicians joined in unison to give praise and thanks to the LORD. Accompanied by trumpets, cymbals, and other instruments, the singers raised their voices in praise to the LORD and sang: “He is good; his love endures forever.” Then the temple of the LORD was filled with the cloud.”
2 Chronicles 5:13
1 The Lord of the Rings Mythology Explained (Part 1), youtu.be/YxgsxaFWWHQ.