To Whose Tune Do You Hearken?

by Jonathan Perz

In the Brothers Grimm tale The Pied Piper of Hamelin, a small German town overrun with rats calls upon the services of “a tall thin man dressed in brightly colored clothes, with a long feather in his hat, waving a gold pipe at them.” The townspeople offer to pay the piper to remove all of the rats from their town.

The next morning the piper plays an irresistible tune on his pipe, leading the rats down to the river where they are drowned and swept away. The moral of the Brothers Grimm story is not realized in the Piper’s feat, but in the broken promise of the townspeople who fail to make their payment to the piper. At dawn he teaches them a painful lesson when he leads all of their children away and into a mountain never to be seen again.

Though the moral of keeping your promises is a needed one (Jas. 5:12), one can’t help but reflect on the strange tune the piper played that irresistibly led the rats and children out of the town.

Does not Satan have a way of playing just the right irresistible tune to lead us to our destruction?

Sometimes the song Satan plays hits the chords of the “various lusts” that dwell in our hearts (2 Tim. 3:6). Some abandon the Lord’s ways, however clearly expressed, for things as simple as preference of music type or things as destructive as adultery and fornication. Satan knows the song that resonates in your heart and he will not fail to play it.

Likewise, Peter speaks of those who “fail from their own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked” (2 Pet. 3:17). When we become discontent with the truth, Satan plays the songs of error that will lead us away. As Satan has contrived every flavor of error under the sun for our partaking, he has exactly the right tune to lead each of us away should the love of the truth not resonate on our heart (2 Tim. 2:9-12).

The redeemed sing a new song (Rev. 14:3). This song resonates so strongly in their hearts that none will ever separate them from the love of God (Rom. 8:35-39).

 

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