Triple C News - June 4, 2021
Hey, everyone!
Hope you’re having an awesome, praise-filled, joy-filled, thankfulness-filled (isthatevenaword?) day!
And if thou art not…
maybe I’ve found just the Scripture for thee!
It’s a verse I discovered this week tuuuuucked away in an obscure corner of the Book of Nehemiah…
In an Old Testament chapter…
Nehemiah and the eleventh chapter, to be exact…
filled with folks with names like…
Mahalalel…
Sallu…
Kol-Hozeh…
Joiarib…
Haggedolim…
Bakbukiah…
And suddenly, there was…
Uzzi!
My hero!
Uzzi had the delightful job…
work…
duty…
responsibility…
profession…
of choir and orchestra director!
"...leading orchestras and choirs in the sacred temple of the true God in Jerusalem to make sure those rooms, chambers, and halls echoed with praise!"
Uzzi, doing his joy job!
Doing his worship work!
Doing his devotional duty!
Doing his rejoicing responsibilities!
Doing his praise profession!
What a cool job!
I looooove how Psalm 134 tells us about those whose job was to praise the Lord “on the night shift”…
“lifting up hands”…all through the night in the house of the Lord.”
Sometimes I like to think of a child with his or her family on yearly Passover pilgrimages...
maybe in the days when our Lord was a child Himself...
camped out with his or her family, on the hill near Gethsemane’s grove, waking in the night and listening to the distant peaceful praise offered in the temple far below…
soft, sweet sounds that nestled into his or her heart as a memory that would glow one dark future day, just when it was needed most…
And Uzzi would praise and sing whether he felt like it or not…
if he was worried or not…
if he was upset or not…
if he was frustrated or not…
or if he was flustered or not.
Because it was his job!
And I bet (In fact, I’m sure), that he went home feeling more peaceful…
more confident…
less anxious…
less frustrated…
and more de-flustered than he did at the beginning of his shift!
A Scripture in the New Testament guarantees that to be “filled with the Spirit”, all you have to do is…sing! (Ephesians 5.18-19)
You just take some “Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs”…
add in some “singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord!”
and voila!
Everything looks a little lighter ’n brighter!
But Uzzi did it like his job!
In fact, it was!
And…Hey! There are openings for this position!
I mean, the temple is no more and the cool outfit he wore disappeared centuries ago…
but daily praisers and praise singers are always needed!
For all shifts!
Here’s my verse I found…
Speaking of “Uzzi, one of Asaph’s descendants, who were the musicians responsible for the service of the house of God”…
it says this amazing thing…
“The musicians were under the king’s orders, which regulated their daily activity…” (Nehemiah 11.23)
Wow!
What if…
“my daily activity” was “regulated”…
because I have a king and…
I am “under the king’s orders”?
Well, it is!
Because we do!
And we are!
Praise!
It’s the King’s orders!
Which makes singing and praise…
your joy job!
your worship work!
your devotional duty!
your rejoicing responsibilities!
your praise profession!
You’ll be happier, lighter and brighter for doing it…
Praise singers, thanks-givers, melody-makers.
Now hiring for all positions!
Apply within…
your heart.