“Have we learned to sing after hearing God’s keynote?” Oswald Chambers

Recently as I was reading from Oswald Chambers’ classic daily devotion book, My Utmost for His Highest (June 5 reading).  The question above jumped off the page! 

What does Chambers mean here by using the word “keynote?”  The online Merriam-Webster dictionary defines keynote as: 1) the fundamental or central fact, idea, or mood, or 2) in music the first and harmonically fundamental tone of a scale.

It’s the second definition that Chambers seems to apply here. Can we hear the first and fundamental tone or note that God is singing over us?  If so, what is that keynote?  And if we know God’s keynote, have we learned to sing our life’s song in a way that’s in harmony with it?  These are great questions!

Are we making the intentional time and space to really listen to what God may be singing or saying into our lives?  Singing or saying?  Take your pick, but personally I love the idea of God singing over me or singing into my life (Psalm 32:7, Zephaniah 3:17). Either way, hearing God’s keynote normally takes being intentional on our part.

What might God’s keynote be? To be true to the use of the word in the devotion I was reading, Chambers was sharing how God’s constant assurance to us is: “I will never… forsake you.”  I believe God’s keynote can just as likely be something unique to a specific situation or time. 

Lately a keynote I feel God's been singing into my life are these words of Scripture.

“He (God) has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” (Micah 6:8, NIV)

Maybe that is a keynote God is singing into your life too.  My prayer for us, is that we learn to tune ourselves to it and sing life’s harmony well!