TAPS -- Devotional for July 16, from "Good Seeds"

“Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep” (Psalm 121:4).

Probably the noblest musical instrument mentioned in the Bible is the trumpet. I’m partial to the stringed instruments myself, but a lyre or a harp of ten strings would never work to call men to battle, or to warn citizens of danger. Of course the trumpet of Bible days was no more than a ram’s horn (called a shofar), a very simple instrument that produced only a root pitch and its overtones. This is the same type of sound that can be gotten from a modern day trumpet without the valves – a bugle, basically. Conventional scales and the melodies built upon them are not playable on such instruments. But with the available tones of root, fifth and third, a whole other type of melodic “scale” can be achieved. The tunes playable on this rudimentary trumpet seem perfectly suited for calling people to attention or to an action of one kind or another. With a harp David strummed the accompaniment for his songs (the Psalms), that he would sing to his sheep – or to his king – for the purpose of quieting disturbed minds and frazzled nerves. But the trumpet has just the opposite purpose and effect: to disquiet minds and hearts, waking them out of a stupor or slumber so they can go into action. It is for such purposes that we have bugle calls today. They are used largely in the military, whose members learn to identify the meanings of the various calls. There is one to wake them up in the morning, another to lower the flag by night, and to say goodnight – and others, too, which communicate very specific activities or commands. In Bible days the shofar called hearers to duty or warned them of danger. No wonder we read, then, of the importance of clear and distinct tones sounding forth from the bugle, as the apostle Paul wrote in I Corinthians 14:8: “For if the trumpet gives an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself for battle?" When Christians gather in the name of Jesus, they put out a call to worship. With the thoughts and words of Scripture set to music they beckon their battle weary brothers and sisters to come away and rest awhile – not to sleep, but to lie down in the green pastures of God’s Word, to rest at the feet of Jesus and like Mary to linger at and ponder on His every word. My favorite bugle call is “taps,” which is just such a call, not to take up arms, but to lay them down for awhile, to see the world, both its joys and its trials, through the eyes of our Lord. So, even as sleep overtakes my eyes this night, I reflect on the words of this noble bugle call…
Day is done; gone the sun
from the lake, from the trees, from the sky.
All is well, safely rest…God is nigh.