Harmony
My friends and I love to sing. So, we sing as often as we can. One of the greatest pleasures of singing is to sing in harmony. Everyone sings a different note but somehow all the notes sound great together. In music harmony is defined as a combination of sounds considered pleasing to the ear. Harmony is also defined as a simultaneous combination of notes in a chord; which is probably why it sounds so good. The notes of the chord are in agreement.
Agreement is another definition of harmony. Harmony is agreement in feeling or opinion; accord. The word harmony is used to describe a collation of parallel passages, especially from the Gospels, with a commentary demonstrating their consonance and explaining their discrepancies. The word harmony is derived from the Greek word "harmos," which means joint. This gives an implication of togetherness. So, to really be together you must be in harmony, therefore you must be in agreement.
What must we do to be in agreement? Let us look at Amos 3:3: "Can two walk together, except they be agreed?" The answer to two questions about this verse will give an answer to the previous question: 1. What does agree mean in this verse? 2. With whom do we walk?
In the Hebrew the Word for agreed in this verse is the same verse used for betrothed, meet and together. It is interesting that the Septuagint translators used the word for to be known. In other words, two cannot walk together unless they know each other. (Knowing each other is the basis of trust.) If two are to agree they must know what they agree on. This should be common sense; yet, it is not. When nearly 50% of marriages in the USA end up in divorce is because at some point the couple realized they did not agree; which means that the couple did not really know each other. Not knowing yields distrust and disagreement. Two cannot walk together like this.
Many of us claim to be Christians, followers of Christ. Yet our lifestyle says otherwise. If we are walking with Christ should we not be more like Him? It is interesting that the word used the Greek for Christ to name the Holy Spirit is Comforter – the one that walks beside you. To walk with the Holy Spirit you must agree with Him, which means you need to know Him deeply and trust Him.
David walked with the Lord until one day he let iniquity take over. We know the story: he saw a woman he liked, he lusted after her, he slept with her, and he tried to deceive Uriah - her husband - into sleeping with her so he could attribute her pregnancy to Uriah. When David's scheme failed he had Uriah killed. So, King David let himself be lured into horrible sin--adultery-murder-lies. For a long time he was able to repress the painful guilt, stomp on it, and keep it covered up. And he bluffed and smiled his way through his royal appointments of state; but when in solitary the guilt finally caught up with him, his devastation of soul was horrendous. Nothing could have made him happy. He discovered how it felt to walk on your own, resisting God's walking companion.
David repented and realized the contrast. How better it was to agree and harmonize with God. When God's forgiveness came, David wrote: "Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven ["lifted up, taken"], whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile. When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long. For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah." (Psalms 32: 1 – 4). Nothing in the vast universe is so joyous to receive than God's forgiveness. Nothing is more joyous then to be in harmony with God. Which is why David now can choose to "… abide in Thy tabernacle for ever: I will trust in the covert of Thy wings" (Psalm 61:4). Are you in harmony with God? Are you walking with Him? Do you trust Him?
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Raul Diaz
www.wolfsoath.com