I found myself in a huge green field with luscious trees around the edges. There was an invisible orchestra playing the most beautiful music! I knew in my spirit that this was the music of the Kingdom Come! It was not the music of the Kingdom that was yet to come. It was the music of the Kingdom that had come. Later in the dream, I was telling another person of this most beautiful music of the Kingdom Come.
When I became a believer in 1972 I was hungry to know more of God. I would tune into Christian radio and listen to Bible teachers talk about the Lord Jesus. One of the most painful aspects of being a new believer at that time was listening to antique Christian music. I thought the music was corny and archaic. I was put off by dull or saccharine lyrics.
I pressed through the unsavory music because I did not want to miss hearing something about the Jesus I was coming to love. I even found myself listening to the painful hymns and gospel songs because sometimes I would find Jesus in them. I tried to coach myself to stick in there, remembering that at one point those songs were new-born and some people even encountered God through them!
At this end of my life I have different pains in Christian music. It is the pain of listening to overly repetitive choruses with shallow lyrics. Still, I listen hard and press in realizing that I don’t have to like the music I sing to God, I just have to love Him. I remind myself that others are actually encountering God with music I find taxing to listen to.
I have learned how to take music that does not stimulate my pallet, with words that are corny or shallow, and use them to worship my Lord. I have overcome! I do not focus on the tune or lyrics so much as on the Savior I love!
For those whom I may have offended let me say that there have been moments where my heart has been deeply moved by music both ancient and contemporary, old fashioned and newfangled. But I so long for the music of the Kingdom Come!
