Sight-reading, where you just start playing a piece of music without ever having seen it before, involves a lot of trust. Trust that you have the skills to play what’s coming next. Trust that you started at a slow enough tempo and won’t find the notes on the next page too fast to play. Trust that you won’t turn a page and suddenly find the key has changed to six sharps. Trust that all the pages are even there.
I generally enjoy sight-reading, especially when playing the piano. It’s more of a challenge. More exciting and interesting. When I was studying music in college, I would love it when I came to choir practice on Wednesday nights and found new music to try out. I would grab a copy and sit down to play it right away. New Christmas cantatas were especially exciting, as they tended to have more advanced piano parts, and beautiful, contemplative devotional pieces.
Sight-reading on the cello is not quite as exciting. I am still too much of a beginner, and wrong notes on the cello tend to be considerably more squeaky and ear-grating than any wrong notes on the piano. I don’t trust myself as much on the cello. And trust is everything when it comes to confidence. Without trust, without confidence, my cello notes sound weak, off-key, and ineffective.
Without trust in God, our spiritual effectiveness is also limited. Yes, God uses those who are weak, but only if they are willing to try. God’s strength is made powerful and visible by our weakness, but only if we trust Him.
I can do all this through him who gives me strength.
Philippians 4:13