By Heart
Psalms 89:15 Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound: they shall walk, O LORD, in the light of thy countenance.
:16 In thy name shall they rejoice all the day: and in thy righteousness shall they be exalted.
My Dad got me this phonograph by Christopher Parkening when I was a boy that made a lasting impression on my musical choices and my life as a result. It had several pieces by Bach that I became quite familiar with after listening to them over and over. For me there is something incredibly passionate and yet so developed in the musical intricacy of Bach’s composition that touches both the heart and the intellect together with this overwhelming experience of expression.
One piece in particular was an arrangement of Jesu Joy of Man’s Desiring. It was actually written for chorale with instrumental accompaniment, but it had been arranged for classical guitar in a way that very beautifully represented the flowing melody with plodding bass line. I became quite familiar with the piece by listening to it and could anticipate and savor every section with each listening. I quickly decided, though, that this was a piece that I would not only know by listening, but this would be a piece I would learn to play. Even though it was beyond my skill level, I began practicing it with great care given to every note and every movement. Every measure and every line were like little exercises themselves as I slowing memorized each shift, each fingering, each note, and each chord. As each section was discovered as something my fingers could produce there was an exhilarating feeling of accomplishment and creative wonder. I found that just playing the notes, though, wasn’t enough, and after learning all of them in their proper sequence up to the final cadence, I entered a lifetime of musical expression with this piece that was new and fresh with each performance. What has been interesting, though, that as I have played Jesu Joy of Man’s Desiring over and over and over through the years, I have gotten to the place that I no longer have to concentrate and remember each note and each phrase; they just flow almost independently from the requirement of mental focus. I know the piece by heart and it has become for me a sound that comes from my heart in a joyful musical expression. While listening to it was a joy, as it became known to my heart through time and intense focus it went from just a joyful reception to a joyful expression.
In the presence of the Lord there is a joy that cannot help but produce a sound of rejoicing. An amazing sense of peace and joy comes from just listening to this sound as it rises from the hearts and lives of those who’ve taken the time to learn it. One could spend a lifetime just being blessed by hearing it, but there is a whole other level of experience this sound will bring when its lines and phrases become expressions from the heart, rather than just to it. To really know this sound is so much more than just hearing it. It is learning to express it in every measure of life, through all the challenges and rewards, so that it is the natural response no matter the circumstances. It is a sound that naturally flows from the heart as God is chosen over every other temptation and victory over sin produces a faith enhancing patience. To live in the light of the life that’s ours in Christ is to know this sound of joy by heart, where it is new and fresh each time it spontaneously erupts in its musical expression. As every life step is taken with an awareness and honor of the Lord, the inevitable continuous joyful sound of a soul that has been redeemed will bring with it great blessing and exaltation in a righteousness that will bear much fruit in the kingdom.
May the heart sound of this day be a joyful one as it resounds to the wonderful light that is pouring in through the door opened to Jesus’ knocking. May it be a sound known so very well and by heart.
