Interview with King David
Written by Hripsime M.

 

 

One day I was walking in a beautiful city named “Book of Psalms” which is situated in the Kingdom of God's Word. In this city, there are 150 nice houses which are built with precious stones—scripture verses. Each floor is built with one verse. The architect of this city is the King of Kingdom of God's Word, the Almighty God. There I met one of the builders, the King David and desired to have an interview with him.

Hripsime: Peace be with you, dear David! How good it is to be here, in this atmosphere of praise and worship to our King! Here I can admire the beauty of God's Word. I enjoyed very much being in the house N 119 (Psalms 119).

David: I'm glad you are here. I think you love our King and want to praise Him in our city.

Hripsime:: Of course. I love so much to praise Him with my songs. I want you to give me some advice. What is necessary in order to sing well?

David:  I suppose you have been in the house N 108 (Psalms 108).

Hripsime: Yes, I have been in all the houses many times.

David: Have you noticed with which verse the first floor is built of?

Hripsime: Yes. “My heart is steadfast, O God; I will sing, I will sing praise, even with my soul.”

David: Here is the answer to your question; in order to sing to the Lord, you need to have a steadfast heart. Your heart must be prepared to praise Him.

Hripsime: And what about a beautiful voice and a good ear? What about musical training? Are they not necessary?

David:  It is good to have a beautiful voice and a good ear, but they are not sufficient. I didn’t have a musical education. You know that I have been singing since my childhood when I was a shepherd. I repeat; you need to have a steadfast heart. God will accept your singing with a false note, but not with a false heart.

Hripsime: In the next floor you have used this stone: “Awake, lute and lyre; I will awaken the dawn.” Is waking up early so important?

David:  If you want to be a person who praises Him truly, you must seek Him early in the morning. You must cry to Him before the dawning of the morning (Psalm 119:147); meditate on His words through the night watches (Psalm 119:148).

Hripsime: What must be the subject of spiritual songs?

David:  You have said that you like very much the house N 119 (Psalms 119), don't you? Go upstairs and look at the verse that was used to build the 54th floor (verse).

Hripsime: Here it is. ''Your statutes are my songs In the house of my pilgrimage.’’

David:  God's statutes must be the subject of our songs. The second important thing is that the songs must glorify the Lord, because “. . it is good to sing praises to our God; For it is pleasant and the praise is becoming” (Psalm 147:1).

Hripsime: It is clear concerning the lyrics of the songs. Is the melody important too?

David:  Surely. Melody must be inspired by God's Spirit too. I know that in your times there are so-called “Christian” songs, which are not different from worldly music. I don't understand how CCM can glorify God.

Hripsime: Yes, it's a pity; there are many “Christians” who listen to “Christian” rock and such things. But you know, there are also God's true children who sing songs based on the Scripture.

David:  Yes, it makes me glad.

Hripsime: You know, you are the writer of the lyrics of many songs that we are singing.

David: I'm glad to hear it. Would you like to sing such a song now?

Hripsime: I'd love to.

O worship the King, all glorious above,
And gratefully sing His wonderful love;
Our Shield and Defender, the Ancient of days,
Pavilioned in splendor, and girded with praise.

O tell of His might, and sing of His grace,
Whose robe is the light, whose canopy space;
His chariots of wrath the deep thunder-clouds form,
And dark is His path on the wings of the storm.

Thy bountiful care what tongue can recite?
It breathes in the air, it shines in the light,
It streams from the hills, it descends to the plain,
And sweetly distills in the dew and the rain.

Frail child of dust, and feeble as frail,
In Thee do we trust, nor find Thee to fail;
Thy mercies how tender! How firm to the end!
Our Maker, Defender, Redeemer, and Friend.

(Taken from Psalms 104; Written by Robert Grant; Tune adapted from J. Michael Haydn)

David:  It is a beautiful song. Both the melody and the lyrics glorify our God.

Hripsime: Thank you, dear David, for this interesting talk. As a closing speech, what would you like to tell the Christians of our times?

David:  “Sing for Joy in the Lord, O you righteous ones; Praise is becoming to the upright.” (Psalm 33:1).

 

 

 

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