March 30.
God’s Orchestra

Psalm 150:3

Praise him with the sound of the trumpet: praise Him with the psaltery and harp. Praise him with the timbrel and dance: praise him with stringed instruments and organs. Praise him upon the loud cymbals: praise him upon the high sounding cymbals.

Trumpets, or animals horns (shofar), were very important in Old

Testament times. The watchman on the wall would blow the trumpet to give out a message to the people. When a warrior was marching the street, he would blow the trumpet. And when a worshipper would come to church he would blow the trumpet. And if you haven’t got a trumpet, Isaiah 58:1 says to lift your voice like a trumpet. When the Lord comes back, He’s going to blow the trumpet.

And then it says to praise him with a psaltery. A psaltery could be played like a drum. And you can’t play the drums without getting dancing in your feet. When the drum starts playing your feet get light. Next the Psalmist says to praise him with the timbrel. A timbrel is the same thing as a tambourine. That means you ought to shake it and get involved. So now we’ve got our voice. We’ve got our dance. We’re moving our hands.

We are also supposed to praise him with the stringed instruments and the organ. The organs in that day they were pipe organs and you didn’t play pipe organs; you blew the organ. Breath or wind, a form of energy caused the organ to work. And then the Bible says to praise him with a loud cymbal and a high cymbal. One was loud; the other was high. When you put them together, they bring melody to the orchestra. What the Lord is saying is, “I want you to praise me right. I want the sound to come out right.”

The orchestra is now in place. Praising time is just about ready. God says, “I’ve got all my instruments, they’re ready to roll. I’ve got my solo singers; they’re all in place.” If you have breath, use it to praise the Lord.