By Pamela Rose Williams

Psalm 81:1-2 “Sing aloud unto God our strength: make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob. Take a psalm, and bring hither the timbrel, the pleasant harp with the psaltery.”

When I read this Psalm, I was immediately reminded of how I learned as a young child that when you sing to the Lord you are praying twice. The Lord loves to hear us sing and He has even given us many, many musical instruments to help us as we praise His Holy Name. I found quite a few of these instruments in the Bible. Take a look at how we can make “Noise of Joy” on these beautiful tools.

In today’s verse we see mention of the timbrel. This is a word we don’t hear so much anymore. Did you know a tambourine is another name for the timbrel? You can also see this percussion instrument mentioned in Exodus 15:20, Judges 11:34, 2 Samuel 6:5, 1 Chronicles 13:8, Job 21:12 as well as in 3 other Psalms.

We also see mention of the harp, which I think we all know is an upright or handheld instrument of strings. And then we see the psaltery, which is another ancient string instrument, much like today’s dulcimer. In addition to the harp and psaltery we see sackbut, with only four strings in the shape of a triangle (Daniel 3:5). We also see it called a lyre or a trigon.

Other instruments include the many horns like the trumpet (Joshua 6:4), and the shofar which was used to get people’s attention or to call people to prayer (Joshua 6;20, 1 Kings 1:34, Job 39:24, more) and just plain “horn: (Hosea 5:8).

You can also find the flute, pipes (bagpipes) and the organ mentioned. Often, we will even see the organ referred to as “pipes” (Genesis 4:21, Psalm 150:1-6, 1 Samuel 10:5, Isaiah 30:29, Daniel 3:5, Job 21:12, more).

Certainly, there is no shortage of percussion in the Bible as well. Many times, that was the only instrument used. We see instances of previously mentioned timbrel or tambourine as well as the drum (Psalm 150:4-5). And perhaps the noisiest of the percussion where the cymbals; those used on fingers and later larger ones that were brought together with the hands (1 Chronicles 15:28, Psalm 150:5, 1 Corinthians 13:1,).

And finally, we all have an instrument with our voice. Whether or not you have the voice of an angel or sound like a dog howling at the moon, when the Lord hears you sing, it is a joyful noise! God is our strength and praising Him with our voice and on other musical instruments is how we were made to worship. Raise your voice or raise your other instrument and give Him the glory and honor because He is worthy of no less than our best!