Daily Devotional | Music in the Temple

What do you do to get ready for worship? Put on your Sunday clothes? Scramble to get the whole family out the door on time? The Bible tells us that we are to “guard [our] steps when [we] go to the house of God” (Eccl. 5:1). What does it mean to guard our hearts and minds for worship?

Second Chronicles 29 gives us a vivid description of just that. Musical worship abounds with a variety of instruments, singers, trumpets, all in praise and worship (vv. 25–30). But what is striking is that the musical worship itself occurs at the end of the chapter.

You see, King Hezekiah first guarded his steps as he entered the house of God. One of his first acts as king was to open the doors of the Temple of the Lord—not to worship, but to repair (v. 1). Second Kings 18:5 says that “there was no one like him among all the kings of Judah.” Hezekiah called those leading in worship (the Levites) to first consecrate themselves and “remove all defilement” (v. 5) from the Temple before any worship could take place.

This is a picture of God’s call for us to remove sin and worldliness within us, for “what agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God” (2 Cor. 6:16). We are to guard our steps as we worship the Lord in public or private, for His church and our very bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit (Eph. 2:21; 1 Cor. 6:19). Much like King Hezekiah cleansed the Temple, we have a greater King who not only overturned tables and cleansed the Temple while He walked this earth (told in all four Gospel accounts), but who can cleanse and sanctify us now through His blood, His Word, and His Spirit.

Go Deeper

On this Lord’s Day, take time to guard your heart. What do you need to get rid of in your life? What might be hindering your relationship with God?

Pray with Us: As we go to church this Sunday, we ask You, Father, to prepare our hearts and minds to come to You with songs of praise. Teach us how to pray and how to worship You in Spirit and in truth.

BY Brian Lee

Dr. Brian Lee is a professor of Music at Moody Bible Institute. He serves in music ministry at Maranatha Bible Church in Chicago and is an active classical pianist as a soloist and chamber musician. He earned a doctorate from The Juilliard School and has been invited as a guest artist, adjudicator, masterclass teacher at many institutions, competitions, and festivals. He and his wife, Helen, are the parents of three sons.