How Big is God?
MUSIC BLOG
01-16-2025
How Big is God?
Psalm 8
For the director of music. A psalm of David.
1 Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory
in the heavens.
2 Through the praise of children and infants
you have established a stronghold against your enemies,
to silence the foe and the avenger.
3 When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
4 what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
human beings that you care for them?
5 You have made them a little lower than the angels
and crowned them with glory and honor.
6 You made them rulers over the works of your hands;
you put everything under their feet:
7 all flocks and herds,
and the animals of the wild,
8 the birds in the sky,
and the fish in the sea,
all that swim the paths of the seas.
9 Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
Several years ago, Ronda and I used to attend a music festival sponsored by a music store and distributor in Spartanburg, South Carolina. The company was smart. They planned a get away for ministers of music and their spouses for a few days in Hilton Head S.C. in January's first or second week. It was a time to refresh and recharge spiritually and musically after a hectic Christmas season. The first year we attended the conference there was a mix-up of the seating at one of the meals. Ronda and I had nowhere to sit, so a spunky white-haired lady stepped forward and motioned us to her table. Her name was Dianne. She turned out to be a delight, dear friend, and helper in ministry.
We continued to attend this conference largely because of Dianne Hall. We always felt at home with her. She was the type of person you just stepped back into your friendship even if you hadn’t talked in a while. When I would call “Music Dianne” at the store, (that’s how she answered the phone) we never just talked about music. She’d ask about my family, the church, how the music was going, etc. I asked about her daughter and her family as well, then we’d order music. Although they had a big January conference the main thrust of their promotions happened in August. At this conference, thousands of ministers of music, pianists, organists, choir members, and pastors were in attendance. The company would bring in top-named artists and preachers to train and inspire the gathering. In June of 2001, I got a call from Music Dianne. She knew a bit about me as an attendee of conferences and knew about my church situation. It turned out that one of the choirs that was supposed to premier a musical at the conference had to bow out at the last minute. As she explained the details, she let me know that all the music would be mailed out and overnighted if need be. The musical was from the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir’s collection and all the soloists for the musical would be flown in from the Brooklyn Church. I would conduct the event, and my choir would sing the new musical from MEMORY! The only soloist they needed from my church would be a child’s voice to sing, “Happy Birthday, Jesus”.
I said yes and then took it to my choir. I told them that in addition to having to perform the musical from memory, they would have to buy tuxes and long dresses and then pay for chartered buses to take us there. My choir was thrilled to be asked and began to dig into the music and all the other tasks involved. I asked my daughter Aimee Kathrine to sing the solo. She was 8 years old. She had an amazing voice and still does for that matter. The time came for us to drive down to Spartanburg. We had our tuxes and dresses; we were on the buses. Half-way there one of the vehicles died and we left it on the side of the road, and everyone piled into one vehicle, over 90 singers. We got to Spartanburg for the rehearsal with the Brooklyn Tab singers. It went amazingly well. We set sound levels, Aimee Kathrine’s voice was strong and clear as we sang to an empty auditorium. We took a break, we ate a light dinner and afterward, waited for our part of the evening’s events.
I remember walking onto the stage and seeing faces. It was a very large church. The balcony went into the stratosphere. There were faces from the floor to the ceiling. I think the estimate was around 2500 in attendance. The evening proceeded with excitement and great energy. The choir knocked it out of the ballpark, the soloists were amazing, and my daughter stood in front of all those people and sang her heart out. Our choir sang one other time in the evening and then headed home.
The next week or so was that eventful and disastrous day, September 11, 2001, when the Twin Towers were destroyed. The word coming to us from New York City was one of great lamenting and sorrow and yet of God’s faithfulness as it was so clear how God was able to work in men’s hearts in all the debris of the tragedy. Because we had a connection with the Brooklyn Tab singers it seemed that God was leading us to perform this musical at our church in Fayetteville, NC and bring the Brooklyn Tab singers to our church. God worked in many ways over the next few months and brought it all about.
The connection between this story and the scripture is this, “God is so big”. He is as wide as the heavens. A phone call from a friend can lead to changing your plans. God knows where that will lead. There’s no way that I would have imagined that we would ever sing in our church with the singers from Brooklyn, but God knew. When life doesn’t go as we planned, or life seems out of kelter its easy to make false assumptions about God. Psalm 8 reminds us to step back, look up, and be amazed. God didn’t start working yesterday. God has been in charge long before you or I came to earth. He has been working in people's lives since the beginning. He has never once let someone slip through the cracks and He’s not about to start now with you or with me. God is able, God will perform.
Blessings,
Marty