Sometimes When David
Played The Harp
Sometimes when David played the harp, the distressing spirit
would depart from King Saul. But sometimes the distressing spirit
didn't depart from Saul!
I Samuel 16:14, 23
14 But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and a
distressing spirit from the LORD troubled him.
23 And so it was, whenever the spirit from God was upon Saul, that
David would take a harp and play it with
his hand. Then Saul would become refreshed and well,
and the distressing spirit would depart from him.
I Samuel 19:9-10
9 Now the distressing spirit from the LORD came upon Saul
as he sat in his house with his spear in his hand. And David
was playing music with his hand.
10 Then Saul sought to pin David to the wall with the spear,
but he slipped away from Saul’s presence; and he drove the spear
into the wall. So David fled and escaped that night.
If at every instance when David played the harp, the distressing
spirit from the LORD would leave King Saul, David would not have to
flee for his life to escape from the deadly spear of Saul.
The harp is just an instrument. The harp music and sounds may soothe
the soul and spirit at some times, but it may also not do so at
other times!
The harp is not a 100% guaranteed instrument for healing or
casting out demons. It is just an instrument. Whether, healing or
deliverance takes place is fully dependent upon the Lord! Not overly
dependent upon the instrument, the sounds, the music or the level of
anointing of the player, but fully dependent on the One who anoints
and sets people free! Many people have wrongly placed their focus on
the harp or the harpist or the songs! Our focus should always be
upon the Lord!
Currently, many Christians have embraced the teachings of quantum
mysticism. It is a set of metaphysical beliefs and associated
practices that seek to relate consciousness, intelligence,
spirituality, or mystical worldviews to the ideas of quantum
mechanics and its interpretations. Very pagan and New Age.
Quantum mysticism is considered by most scientists and philosophers
to be pseudoscience or quackery.
Pseudoscience consists of statements, beliefs, or practices that are
claimed to be both scientific and factual, but are incompatible with
the scientific method. Pseudoscience is often characterized by
contradictory, exaggerated or unfalsifiable claims; reliance on
confirmation bias rather than rigorous attempts at refutation; lack
of openness to evaluation by other experts; and absence of
systematic practices when developing theories, and continued
adherence long after they have been experimentally discredited.
Quackery, often synonymous with health fraud, is the promotion of
fraudulent or ignorant medical practices. A quack is a "fraudulent
or ignorant pretender to medical skill" or "a person who pretends,
professionally or publicly, to have skill, knowledge, qualification
or credentials they do not possess; a charlatan or snake oil
salesman".
A few years ago, I went to buy some books in a local Christian
bookstore. I was amazed to see a wide range of new books about
healing. Almost a book or booklet was written for each of the known
diseases or illnesses. I asked the promoter of those books, "May I
ask a simple question? What if I don't read or have any of these
books, will God still heal if I pray in the name of Jesus?" He
strictly said no. Unless I did according to what was written in
those books, no healing was possible. Wow! To him, those books had
more authority than the Bible! I didn't buy any books that day.
I knew I was dealing with a quack. And I also know there are many
quacks inside the churches today!
Over the past few years, some friends had shared some formulae of
prayers or healing with me. For example, one lady would come to a
prayer meeting and pray at the same day and hour every week. I remembered her
prayers as they were the same, week after week. She would nullify
the prayers of others, declare and decree this and that, and within
a few minutes, it was all completed. And she claimed that she had
done her duties by discharging her prayers! She had gotten those
prayer formulae from some Christian conferences. And sad to say,
they were not founded upon the Word of God or even godly! A set of
same words, decrees and declarations! Repeat over and over again,
week after week!
One person even tried to teach me how to pray powerful apostolic
prayers. I was stunned. I told him that I had a more powerful
prayer. It was called the Lord's Prayer. The Lord is more powerful
than His apostles. "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name..."
Someone even taught me how to read the Bible at high speeds.
Simply turn the mp3 player to 2 times, 4 times, 8 times, 16 times,
32 times speed. Just listen without understanding and meditating.
Simply downloading. But I knew it was New Age and not Biblical!
There are also people who think that they can open up the heavens by
blowing their shofars, or playing special sounds or instruments.
Some evangelists and pastors would even repeat a song over and over
again for countless times to invite the Holy Spirit into the midst
of their meetings! One pastor even taught me how to tune my musical
instruments to God's frequency by using the harp tuner. I was
shocked by the invasion of New Age teachings into the churches
today!
I am not saying that we cannot blow a shofar, play a harp or sing a
song! What I am against is people trying to box God up! I have to sing
this song....I have to play this harp...I have to blow this shofar...or
I have to use
this particular holy frequency...then this or that will happen.
Using some man-made "sacred" formulae. What if this
or that does not happen, do we have to repeat over and over till it
does?
We cannot afford to be presumptuous before the Lord! And we cannot
commit presumptuous sins!
Deuteronomy 18:20-22
20 But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in My name,
which I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name
of other gods, that prophet shall die.’
21 And if you say in your heart, ‘How shall we know the word which
the LORD has not spoken?’—
22 when a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the thing does
not happen or come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD has not
spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously;
you shall not be afraid of him.
Psalm 19:13
Keep back Your servant also from presumptuous sins;
Let them not have dominion over me.
Then I shall be blameless,
And I shall be innocent of great transgression.
During the Exodus, the people of God murmured against God and
against Moses. Hence, God sent poisonous serpents into their midst,
and many of them died as a result. They came to Moses to ask him to
plead for God's mercy on their behalf. When Moses prayed for them,
God instructed him to make a bronze serpent and put it on a pole so
the people could be healed if they looked at the bronze serpent.
Numbers 21:4-9
The Bronze Serpent
4 Then they journeyed from Mount Hor by the Way of the Red Sea, to
go around the land of Edom; and the soul of the people became very
discouraged on the way.
5 And the people spoke against God and against Moses:
“Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness?
For there is no food and no water, and our soul loathes this
worthless bread.”
6 So the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they
bit the people; and many of the people of Israel died.
7 Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, “We have sinned, for
we have spoken against the LORD and against you; pray to the LORD
that He take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the
people.
8 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and
set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when
he looks at it, shall live.”
9 So Moses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole; and
so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the
bronze serpent, he lived.
But over the years living in the Promised Land, the people of God began to elevate the status
of the bronze serpent. They began to infatuate themselves with the
object. They even burned incense to it, worshipped it and named it Nehushtan! But King Hezekiah broke it in pieces! And God was pleased
with him!
2 Kings 18:4-7
4 He removed the high places and broke the sacred pillars, cut down
the wooden image and broke in pieces the bronze serpent that
Moses had made; for until those days the children of Israel burned
incense to it, and called it Nehushtan.
5 He trusted in the LORD God of Israel, so that
after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor who
were before him.
6 For he held fast to the LORD; he did not depart
from following Him, but kept His commandments, which the LORD had
commanded Moses.
7 The LORD was with him; he prospered wherever he went.
And he rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him.
Anything can become an idol of worship. God told Moses to make
the bronze serpent. But over time, it became an idol.
Thus, an instrument may be holy before the Lord at a certain time.
But it may become unholy if people defile it. The temple of God was
holy until the priests and people defiled it. The priests and
people of God were holy until they defiled themselves!
Thus, we should never fully depend upon any person or object or instrument
in our worship to God. We must not elevate any person, instrument, song or
method until they become an idol! We should only depend on the Lord,
trusting and obeying Him at all times. Holding fast to the Lord and
following Him! Worshipping Him in spirit and in truth!
Not being presumptuous but abiding in Christ and living according to His Word!
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_mysticism
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudoscience
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quackery
Written on: 24 February 2019