OLUSEGUN ISAAC BLOG

'So he [David] left Asaph and his brothers there before the ark of the covenant of the Lord to minister before the ark regularly...to give thanks to the Lord ...to sound aloud with trumpets and cymbals and the musical instruments of God' (I Chr. 16:37,41-42 NKJV).              While we would be right to say that Miriam led the first praise and worship of God directly after the Red Sea crossing, we would equally not be wrong to say that King David instituted formal temple worship according to the scripture above. David   chose, separated and organized musicians for God's worship in the temple (1Chr.25:1-6). Out of the 150 songs, poems and prayers in the Book of Psalms, 75 were written by King David. Moses, Solomon and Ethan wrote one each; and the remaining 72 were written by other known and unknown writers. These others were mostly Levites, notable among whom were Asaph, Jeduthum, Korah, Heman and their sons. Levites were workers in the house of God in Israel (Num.8:

'...He raised up for them David as king, to whom also He gave testimony and said, ‘I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My own heart, who will do all My will’ (Acts 13:22 NKJV).             Here in part is the dossier of King David, whom God described as 'man after His own heart'. It is given here for our emulation. 1)He had learnt skills for God's worship early in life; he wrote Psalm 23 at a very tender age. 2)At 17, he was picked up from the pits as a shepherd lad and anointed in place of a despotic king in Israel. 3)He dared to fight Goliath to honour God when but a teenager and acquired the knack for battle.  4)He endured over 10 years of persecution by King Saul before he was finally crowned king at 30, thereafter reigning for over 40 years. 5)He knew the power in the praise and worship of God and in prayer. 6)He honoured God in his ways and reverenced the symbol of His glory - the Ark of Testimony. 7)He asked God first before making his decisions. 8)

“I will sing to the Lord , for He has triumphed gloriously! The horse and its rider He has thrown into the sea! (Exodus 15:1 NKJV). Rumours had it that Michael Jackson, one of the celebrated popsingers of all time, got a place on Mount Everest reserved for his burial with the motive that when he died, he would be preserved in the icy peaks of the world's highest mountain and his body would be fresh and ready for him to inhabit again when he reincarnated. But alas, his last song was released after his death, and he was not buried on Mount Everest; American authorities insisted that the body of a legend like him had to be buried in his homeland! Talk about vanity upon vanity... Moses' song of praise to God, partly quoted above, was after he beheld God's awesome power!  He beheld God's great power that parted the Red Sea, made him lead the chidren of Israel safely across on dry land and the returning tide that swept away Pharaoh and his host hotly pursuing them. On the o

'Then he dreamed...a ladder was set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. And...the Lord stood above it...' (Gen.28:12,13 NKJV).    When God revealed to Jacob in a dream the spiritual platform that conveys our requests to God from earth to heaven and back to earth with His response, He was starting a new thing. The Bible is showing us that our offerings of thanksgiving, praise, worship, supplications, petitions, intercessions and other manner of sacrifice are definitely taken up to God and that He responds to them. We are told there is an innumerable company of angels in heaven to do that (Heb.12:22). So it would seem that we all have ministering angels assigned to us who take up our sacrifices to God and bring us back the deserved answers by this revealed platform (John1:51). What does the ladder represent? A number of interpretations have been given to Jacob's dream of the ladder. One says, &

“Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” And Abraham said, “My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering" (Genesis 22:7-8 NKJV) Here is a story of The Great Exchange: A great king sent his son, the heir to his throne on a royal visit to one of his colonies. The son got there visited the prison where he saw a notorious prisoner in chains awaiting execution. He listened to the prisoner's story, was moved with compassion and resolved to free him. Upon getting back to his father's kingdom, the son left a note there and went back to the prisoner in the colony. He exchanged his royal robes with the prisoner's clothes which allowed the criminal to walk out a free man. The son also handed the prisoner a note to his father the great king. The very next day the executioners came, took away the son now in the prisoner's clothes and executed him by hanging. The prisoner, now in royal robes, got back to the kingdom, p