The Heavenly Choir

Last week a dear, precious friend walked into glory with the Lord, after struggling for over 30 years with numerous kinds of cancer.  A few weeks before the Lord took Bob home, a group of us had gone to Bob and Lillie’s.  Bob wasn’t very strong.  He was struggling to breathe, because the cancer was in his lungs.  But the minute I walked up to him to give him a hug, he pointed to the other room and said, “The piano’s in there.”  After we ate a little food together, we all went in to the piano, and I was told to “play that” – “it’s Bob’s favorite song”.  “That” was “The Lord’s Prayer”, and it was in a very difficult version, with timing changes 3 times and notes all up and down the piano – way out of my capability.  My eyes bugged out.  But Bob desired it; so I played.  We were all singing, and I was struggling through the playing (doing an atrocious job!) when we all heard the most precious sound coming from the corner of the room where Bob sat.  Bob was singing his heart out.  It was hard to keep on singing, because we were all in tears. 

That was the last time that I saw Bob responsive.

For the memorial service, Lillie wanted me to play “In the Garden”, which was no problem since it is a very simple-to-play hymn.  Through various circumstances, I also ended up playing “The Lord’s Prayer” for a soloist and also “I’ll Fly Away” for a family of six little children singing. 

Even though I practiced and practiced “The Lord’s Prayer”, and although it sounded fine when I played it at home – I blew it royally playing for the service.  And I didn’t find the children’s song in the key they needed until just a few hours before I needed to leave for the service, plus I had only the chords and one note of melody, had to play it an octave lower, and hadn’t practiced that version with the kids.  So I kind of blew that one, too.

I was devastated.  All of the rest of the service was so perfect and so beautiful, including the taps played at the end because Bob was a navy veteran.  However, I felt that I had royally ruined my part of it.  There was such a heavy weight on me.  I couldn’t go to sleep until the wee hours of the morning, and then I woke up after just a few hours thinking about my mess-up.  It was two-fold:  I felt so bad for Lillie and her children, for my ruining of the beautiful service that was their last memory of Bob; and I was exceedingly embarrassed.  My pride was stomped on.

The morning of the service, God had so encouraged me by Ephesians 1: 17-23.  There, He talks about “having the eyes of your heart flooded with light, so you can know and understand:
  1.  the hope to which He has called you,
  2.  how rich is His glorious inheritance in the saints, and
  3.  the immeasurable & unlimited & surpassing greatness of His POWER in & for us who believe
as demonstrated when He raised Him from the dead…”

At the time, I thought, “Yes, Lord!  Only your great and awesome POWER is enabling and will enable me to play this extremely intricate song!”

But it didn’t exactly work out that way.

This morning, I cried to the Lord to lift that burden of despair from me.  And you know what?.....He reminded me to get up and go to the piano and sing a praise song for Him.  He also reminded me about “reverse praise” – a little technique God had taught me years ago, as follows: 

  When somebody does or says something that hurts you or angers you or upsets you, or when having a hard time dealing with the regret or shame of your own failures or sins, stop and make a list down the left side the page of everything that’s bothering you.  For example, your boss may have criticized you unfairly, or your grown child may have acted very unwisely, or someone may have lied to you.  Or you may have spouted off to your best friend, hurting her feelings.  Then, on the right side of the page, list the opposite of that characteristic.  For example, the opposite of unfair criticism would be perfect judgement.  The opposite of unwise actions would be acting with total wisdom.  The opposite of telling a lie would be only and always telling absolute truth.  The opposite of thoughtless, hurting words would be carefully thought out responses, full of wisdom and love.  Now look at each of those things on the right side of the page, and you have a list of attributes of God, which you can begin to praise Him for immediately.  Believe me, nothing works better for getting rid of despondency than turning to praise.

So….it was easy to see the opposite of my goof-ups and to begin praising God for His absolute perfection.  Not so easy – but necessary and do-able - to keep on doing it every time Satan brought up the memory of my failure.

When I went to the piano, God took me immediately to an old gospel hymn, “Follow Me”, which talks about how a discouraged Christian says, “the burden on my weary back had bowed me to despair”.  In the song, Christ answers, “My feet were also weary upon the Calvary road, the cross became so heavy, I fell beneath the load.  Be faithful weary pilgrim, the morning I can see – just lift your cross and follow close to Me.”

And then just 2 pages over the song:  “God Can Do Anything But Fail”.

How perfect, when I fail and when I’m discouraged, to fix my eyes on His perfection and on the burdens He carried - for me.  A messed-up piano playing…….so much of a NOTHING aside of what Christ had to deal with for my sake.

Then, I got to thinking about that POWER that God promised me yesterday, and I realized that He HAD “delivered” on His part.  This morning, he had given me the power to overcome despair through praise.  And…He is also able to enable Lillie to remember the good in Bob’s service instead of the mess-ups!

Right now while writing this article, I just got a call from a tenant in my commercial building that I had another flood inside the building.  It’s apparently from a new drain pipe that plumbers put in just two days ago (to correct another problem that they had created by choosing to put in too few downspouts with the newly installed roof).  I’ve just ordered water remediation (for the third time in just a few years), since everything is soaked.

So…..perfect time again to use the POWER that God has given me over despair and anger – power to turn it back into praise to Almighty God – a praise that my friend Bob knows all about right now.  He is praising God FACE TO FACE!  You know, I think that when I was messing up “The Lord’s Prayer”, it didn’t matter to Bob and the heavenly choir.  They were joyously singing along in full harmony, filling in all the notes I missed, adding more to somehow blend and raise up my broken melody in a great symphony of praise to the King of Kings!  And that symphony is still going on today, as I choose to praise Him! 

Over two thousand years ago, the world got a little foretaste of the awesomeness of that great heavenly choir.  Shepherds, living out under the immense open sky, watching over their flocks one night, were treated to an army of heavenly hosts praising God and rapping out, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.” 

Halleluiah!  Lord, in this Christmas season of remembering your birth, grant us the power to keep our eyes focused on joining the heavenly choir in praise to You.  In the turmoil of life, mine keep straying.