I will turn my ear to a proverb; with the harp I will expound my riddle. – Psalm 49:4

Today's Scripture Reading (September 30, 2025): Psalm 49

If you are a regular reader of this blog, you might note that I love music. I often use song lyrics both in my writing and in my teaching. I got involved in music during my childhood in the late 60s with a small transistor radio hidden under my pillow. I graduated from the transistor radio to a clock radio, which would play the local rock station while I fell asleep. I had a stereo in my room from the time I became a teen until the day I got married. Today, I often listen to music from my Spotify account with a pair of earbuds as I wind down and my wife goes to sleep. Recently, I turned to Ten Sheckel Shirt, a band I hadn't listened to for over a decade, and fell in love with their music one more time. One of the songs that hit me as I heard it in my dark bedroom was a song called "Much."

I come to Your feet and weep.
Remembering how You changed me
I kneel at Your feet humbly.
I pour out my love and my thanks.

I am the one who's been forgiven much.
I am the one who loves much (Lamont Hiebert).

The song tells the story of the woman who comes to Jesus while he was eating at the house of Simon the Pharisee. The story is found in Luke 7, and while the woman is unnamed, it is this story that began the assumption that Mary Magdalene was a prostitute. Luke tells us of Jesus's words of response to Simon as the woman knelt at his feet.

Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little (Luke 7:44b-47).

I know that not everyone is like me, but I can read the story and understand some of it. But to hear someone like Hiebert boil it down into a song, that I can feel. Often, the addition of emotion from a song increases my understanding of a given story.

The Psalmist encourages his readers to do whatever it takes to convey God's important message to the people. If it is by reading, then read it and turn your ear to teaching. If it helps someone to turn it into a song, then do that. What matters is that we keep telling the stories of both Jesus and God, regardless of whatever form our telling might take. Because different mediums will hit us all differently, and that's okay. We need to try to teach in many different ways.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Psalm 66 & 67