The Miracle of Music

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The pier at San Juan Island, Washington
This was my year of travel. Yet, the only trip I actually planned was my “Cousins” vacation to Seattle this past August. But somehow, I ended up traveling much more than originally intended. In all my travels this year, I encountered many delayed flights, and the return trip from Seattle was the worst. Our flight out of Seattle was delayed so long we missed the connecting flight. No other flights out to Pittsburgh, PA until morning. We had a quick overnight stay and were back at the airport by 4:30am. Salt Lake City to Detroit, then on to Pittsburgh and home.

I’m rarely on Facebook, but this morning I came across an intriguing video shared by a friend:  How to pass the time when your flight is delayed. https://www.facebook.com/hoppersdream/videos/332233487339304/ The video was a group of hip-hop dancers who waited on their delayed flight by dancing in the airport terminal. Using a cool song with great rhythm, they choreographed their moves precisely to the words, melody, and beats of the music. They were terrific and watching them lifted my spirits and made me smile.

Cousin's selfie atop the Seattle Space Needle
I don’t know about you, but music makes me feel good and my body just naturally wants to “move to the groove”. Even with the music on Christian Radio and at church I feel uplifted. It causes me to praise God, to worship Him and revel in His presence.

With this reflection, I remembered a Bible Study where the author taught about God’s creative work in speaking the universe into being. One of God’s most ingenious creations was that of music.

Did you realize there are actually only SEVEN notes? No, no, no, you might say. There are 88 keys on a piano and there are seven, count them, seven octaves. Nevertheless, I would ask you to take a moment to think about this. In an octave, you have a series of eight notes beginning with the “C” note. They are C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C. Please observe there are only SEVEN original notes. The eighth sequential note is the same as the first only at a higher pitch. All other notes on the piano keyboard are variations of these original SEVEN.

I know Wikipedia is not the most reliable source of research, but here’s what they had to say about the octave:  “The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon that has been referred to as the “basic miracle of music”…” www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octave. Natural phenomenon – n.

Still, I love the phrase – basic miracle of music! The significance of the SEVEN notes points to our Almighty Creator God. SEVEN in scripture carries the meaning of completeness – spiritual – perfection (finished). God’s musical scale was perfect and complete - nothing more was needed and since the beginning, not one note has been added. This is because, in our finite minds, we humans cannot even conceive of a musical note that does not already exist. Nor can we conceive of an eighth color, but that’s a discussion for another time.


Snoqualmie Falls, Washington

It is God, and God alone, who creates something out of nothing – the Hebrew word is bârâ´ - pronounced baw-raw’ – and God did this THREE times in Genesis, chapter one. The first was the beginning when He created (bârâ´) the heavens and the earth. The second was when He created sea, air, and land creatures. The third time was when God created man in His image – male and female He created them. [1]




Relaxing at a coffee shop on San Juan Island
Along with everything else God created music and set the SEVEN notes in place – a miracle if ever there were one. We, as humans, use what God has created. We put the musical notes together in all their variations to make beautiful melodies and harmonies. The music, in turn, affects our emotions – our whole body, soul, and spirit. It’s God’s design.

No wonder King Saul, when plagued by the distressing spirit, needed the future king, David, to play his harp.[2] The music soothed Saul and the Spirit of the Lord upon David chased the distressing spirit away for the moment.

So the next time you are emotionally down or drained, remember God’s miracle of music. He designed music to touch your inmost being, to draw you to Himself, and to focus your thoughts on Jesus and things in heaven, for Christ is your life.[3]


[1] Genesis 1:1; Genesis 1:21; Genesis 1:27
[2] 1 Samuel 16:23
[3] Colossians 3:1-3

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