Count Your Strings

Psalms 33:2 (KJV) Praise the LORD with harp: sing unto him with the psaltery and an instrument of ten strings.

(Proverbs 11 also read)

As I read over this verse, my mind went down one of its rabbit trails.  I noticed that this Psalm specifically mentions 10 strings.  Is that divinely inspired and are we supposed to make a sermon based on that?  What about an instrument with nine strings?  11 strings?  My guitar only has six strings.  Can I use it or not?  It’s easy to get off on these tangents.  I think of a denomination that does not use any kind of instruments in their worship because all references to instruments are in the Old Testament and we are now in the new covenant.  They sang beautiful.  I don’t know what their theology is, but I would welcome them as part of the family of God.  They are straining after gnats and swallowing camels.

I recently started watching a video of a guy who was going to make an entire speech on 153 fish the disciples caught.  I listen for a few minutes, and then I realized that perhaps the time would be spent better in looking at the gifts of the spirit, the fruit of the spirit, what it means to love your neighbor, and so forth.

So?  We can get so caught up in meaningless details.  When you read the Bible, God has something to say to you and I don’t think it has to do with how many strings your guitar has.  I could be wrong, but I don’t think so.