Here’s My Heart — Tune It

This week’s devotion is authored by Whitney Wade, Living Stone music director and music teacher for kindergarten through fourth grade at St. Paul’s School.



"I waited patiently for the LORD; He inclined to me and heard my cry. He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the Lord" (Psalm 40:1–3).

Psalm 40 is a song of deliverance. The psalmist remembers how the Lord heard his cry, lifted him out of trouble, and set his feet on solid ground. Then God put a new song in his mouth — a song of praise that flows from being rescued. Praise, in this psalm, is not something we create; it is a response to what God has already done. As we begin this year, we start from that same place — remembering God's faithfulness and letting the song He gives be heard through our lives.

In music, nothing really starts without tuning. Instruments need to be aligned, voices warmed, and everyone ready to listen — because an out-of-tune instrument can make noise, but it can't truly make music. As a music teacher, I see this all the time. Before we sing or play, we listen, we adjust, and we learn to hear one another. Tuning isn't flashy, and it isn't always tidy, but it's necessary. In the same way, God patiently tunes our hearts through His Word, His Sacraments, and the people around us so that we don't just make noise but actually sing His grace through lives that reflect His love together.

One hymn that captures this beautifully is "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing," written in 1758 by Robert Robinson. The hymn grew out of Robinson's own experience of God's mercy in a life that had wandered and struggled. Its opening line, "Tune my heart to sing Thy grace," reminds us that praise does not begin with perfection but with God shaping our hearts. The hymn reflects our daily reliance on God's mercy, our tendency to wander, and the ongoing call to faithfulness — reminding us that grace is continual and that responding to it is a rhythm of the Christian life.

This is how we sing God's praise together as the Body of Christ. God does not tune our hearts so that we sing alone, but so that our lives join together in harmony. When our hearts are shaped by grace, we sing His grace through patience, encouragement, forgiveness, service, and unity. In ordinary moments — classrooms and hallways, conversations and quiet acts of care — our lives become part of a larger song that reflects God's mercy and faithfulness.

Psalm 40 reminds us that God gives the song before we ever know how it will sound. Our response is to listen, to trust, and to live in a way that allows His grace to be heard through us, not stay silent within us. As we begin this year, we return to a simple prayer: "Here's my heart — tune it." Tuned together by grace and united as the Body of Christ, we sing His praise, not only with our voices, but with our lives.

Prayer: Gracious Lord, thank You for hearing our cries and placing our feet on solid ground. Thank You for the new song You give through Your grace. Tune our hearts this year, shaping us together as Your people. Help us to sing Your praise not only with our voices, but through lives marked by unity, kindness, service, and love. May the song You give be heard through us in all that we do. Amen.

Reflection: In what ways is God inviting you to "tune your heart" this week so that your words, actions, and presence reflect His grace and join with others in a song of praise?

Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing

LSB Hymn 686

Come, Thou Fount of ev’ry blessing,

Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;

Streams of mercy, never ceasing,

Call for songs of loudest praise.

While the hope of endless glory

Fills my heart with joy and love,

Teach me ever to adore Thee;

 May I still Thy goodness prove.

Here I raise my Ebenezer,

Hither by Thy help I’ve come;

And I hope, by Thy good pleasure,

Safely to arrive at home.

Jesus sought me when a stranger,

Wand’ring from the fold of God;

He, to rescue me from danger,

Interposed His precious blood.

Oh, to grace how great a debtor

Daily I’m constrained to be;

Let that grace now like a fetter

Bind my wand’ring heart to Thee:

Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it;

Prone to leave the God I love.

Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,

Seal it for Thy courts above.

Oh, that day when freed from sinning,

I shall see Thy lovely face;

Clothed then in the blood-washed linen,

How I’ll sing Thy wondrous grace!

Come, my Lord, no longer tarry;

Take my ransom’d soul away;

Send Thine angels soon to carry

Me to realms of endless day.



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View "Come Thou Fount" by Caleb and Kelsey Grimm: