A Devotional Thought from Psalm 147:1–7
Psalm 147:1–7 1Praise ye the Lord: For it is good to sing praises unto our God; For it is pleasant; and praise is comely. 2The Lord doth build up Jerusalem: He gathereth together the outcasts of Israel. 3He healeth the broken in heart, And bindeth up their wounds. 4He telleth the number of the stars; He calleth them all by their names. 5Great is our Lord, and of great power: His understanding is infinite. 6The Lord lifteth up the meek: He casteth the wicked down to the ground. 7Sing unto the Lord with thanksgiving; Sing praise upon the harp unto our God:
Ricky Sang Pretty!
He would sing at the top of his lungs and it sounded pretty!
Don’t get me wrong, his voice was not very good, his diction was poor, nor was there hardly ever a discernible word in any of his performances. As for rhythm, when we would sing, Ricky was nowhere near the beat. He had no talent for singing, he didn’t have a pleasant tone, he had no rhythm and yet amazingly, his singing was pretty! Ricky had a heart for singing like nobody I have ever known, as a matter of fact, he had a big heart for everyone.
Oh yea, I should probably tell you, Ricky had an extra chromosome.
Ricky was an incredible blessing to me. He gave our church a distinct personality and his love for music was contagious to our congregation.
Ricky didn’t just sing pretty, he sort of danced pretty too!
His favorite song was Amazing Grace and whenever that selection was announced he would clap his hands with anticipation. Ricky was so thrilled at singing that he would move his arms like he was priming a pump drawing the song from deep within his soul!
Someone might ask, “but Bald Believer, how can you say that his singing was pretty if he didn’t have any talent for singing?”
The very first verse in today’s reading gives the answer.
Psalm 147:1 Praise ye the Lord: For it is good to sing praises unto our God; For it is pleasant; and praise is comely.
The Scripture tells us that praise is comely. In other words, praise is pretty!
I can say from his own Word that our God doesn’t focus on the voice of the singer but on their heart.
When someone praises him with a sincere heart God hears and he is pleased.
God thinks sincere, heartfelt praise is pretty.
One day Jesus was sitting in a house filled with people when a woman approached and poured expensive ointment over his head. The sweet smell of the ointment filled the room as it ran down his body all the way to the floor. This worshipping woman then began to wipe the Lord’s feet with her hair.
Can you believe she used her hair?
Most women I know are very conscious of their hair and yet this one was using hers as a washcloth.
Why? For what possible reason would she risk ruining her appearance?
I suppose she understood that the Lord doesn’t care that much about the look of one’s hair, but he sure does find praise very pretty!
Ricky is no longer singing at the church that I pastor, his contagious enthusiasm is no longer lifting our hearts toward the heavens.
While we are deprived of his pretty songs, Heaven is not!
Ricky is now singing in the presence of his Creator who I am sure finds his worship very pretty!
At Ricky’s funeral service, I asked everyone present to think about four letters during the service, WWRD. (What would Ricky do?)
I asked that congregation to forget about the critic next to them and just do what Ricky would do and make a joyful noise to the Lord.
Will you think about those letters today and commit to giving Jesus what he really wants and deserves, your heart and your praise?
Ricky sang pretty, will you?
Readings from 12/25/20
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