THEIR WORSHIP CROWDS OUT THE BORDERS OF HELL'S DOMAIN

Whenever the spirit from God came on Saul, David would take up his lyre and play. Then relief would come to Saul; he would feel better, and the evil spirit would leave him.

1 Samuel 16:23

There is power in the way music can create emotions and alter atmospheres. There is even more power when the Lord is with us as we play. I was reading through 1 Samuel 16 right after Saul has been rejected by God as king over Israel. Evil spirits are tormenting him because of his disobedience, and scripture says that the Spirit of the Lord had left Saul. Though scripture doesn't say specifically, I would imagine that the tormenting of these evil spirits kept Saul up at night and distressed his thoughts during the day. His attendants recommended that he find a musician of the Lord to come and play soothe his spirits. 

15 Saul’s attendants said to him, “See, an evil spirit from God is tormenting you. 16 Let our lord command his servants here to search for someone who can play the lyre. He will play when the evil spirit from God comes on you, and you will feel better.”

17 So Saul said to his attendants, “Find someone who plays well and bring him to me.”

18 One of the servants answered, “I have seen a son of Jesse of Bethlehem who knows how to play the lyre. He is a brave man and a warrior. He speaks well and is a fine-looking man. And the Lord is with him.”

Photo of David and his Lyre from my Israel trip. 

As I was reading through this portion of scripture, my heart was touched by the way the Spirit of the Lord was with David as he played. The power of the Lord and the sound of David's lyre were the only thing that would soothe Saul and cast out the evil spirits. David was a man of God who lived in humility and integrity at a young age as a shepherd. He served Saul faithfully and used his talent of playing his stringed instrument to alter Saul's tormenting atmosphere and drive out the evil spirits. I began to think about this power of music in my own home—when I am distressed or have thoughts that keep me up at night, I often sit down at the piano and begin to play as I pray. Sometimes my husband will play for me as I sit and reflect, or other times I will play for him as he prays and thinks. The moment that the first piano key is played the atmosphere changes and the Spirit of the Lord is welcome. I can almost visually imagine anything evil scattering from our home as we claim that space with the Lord's melody. 

I also began to think how we, as worship leaders, have the ability to alter the atmosphere of our sanctuary in our community gatherings through the playing of our instruments and the lifting of our voices. I thought of each of our musicians on this week's team individually and realized the power that they each have as they play their instrument with the Spirit of the Lord in them: our drummer stirring on the cymbals, the bassist providing the anchor, the guitarists exchanging rhythms and harmonies, the pianist drawing in voices with his melodies. We prayed that the Spirit of the Lord would settle on each of our hearts as we practiced and as we led the church community on Sunday, that God's power would flow through each of our instruments to send evil spirits fleeing. I recalled a beautiful excerpt from Jack Hayford, giving imagery to how we as God's people claim his power as we worship:

Psalm 22:3 says that the King of kings is literally “enthroned” in our praises. Wherever God’s people come together to worship, and where that happens, all the weight of His glory, His rulership, and His dominion are present. In this atmosphere –– where worship ushers in the presence of God –– four critically important things take place: first, the Word becomes life, not just an intellectual exercise; then, as His kingdom is established, people will be healed and people will come to know the Lord. Finally, because God is empowering His people, their worship crowds out the borders of hell’s current domain –– Satan having been given rulership of this planet by man’s forfeit of dominion at the Fall.

"Their worship crowds out the borders of hell's current domain." Wow. What a powerful thing to physically imagine our worship causing the spirit of the enemy to flee. When we play our instruments and lead music for the Lord as David did, we have his power in us to create softened hearts, to soothe souls in his presence and to cause evil to flee from the troubled hearts in our church family. It is an honor and a privilege to worship alongside friends and musicians who share the same prayers for our times of worship. 

Be empowered and be encouraged! 

Blessings, 

Jamie 

jrobison@b4church.org