Sing, Christian, Sing!

I love good music or have I told you that already? :)  It is the reason that at times I will post on my blog site a song that has particularly ministered to me and we like to share with others the things we enjoy, don't we?  I think that we don't sing enough, Saint! I am not talking about down at the church house on Sunday but in our homes and cars on Monday through Saturday. I was reading three different passages this morning and noted that all had reference to singing.  In Psalm 137, the writer asks this question: "How shall we sing the LORD's song in a foreign land?" And how can we in this foreign land in which we dwell?

We remember that He is with us and that we are marching to Zion, that's how! That is exacty the song I want to sing- the Lord's song. Paul and Silas sang it at midnight in a prison cell after being beaten with many stripes for doing the right thing.  I often wonder what it must have been like for the other prisoners, tired from the day's duties and they too, maybe smarting from a beating, and now they are trying to sleep, and all of a sudden they hear the two "new guys", maybe even off key, praying and singing in the dead of night. The Scripture says they were singing "to God."  Yes, there we have it- we sing the Lord's song back to Him and He delights in hearing it.

There were some amazing things that happened that night at Philippi. Paul and Silas sang, God sent an earthquake to shake the place and loose all of their chains, and the jailer and his household were born again. The scene shifts to the jailer's house where he is bathing their wounds, feeding them, and rejoicing that he is a believer in the God that his prisoners were singing of. (Really, he was the prisoner before. Paul and Silas were free in the Lord.) I believe that he and his family were learning the words to the Lord's song and lifting up their voices in praise.  Yes, I believe that God loves to hear us sing. If it is the Lord's song, it will oftentimes be used as an instrument to put the devil on the run. I read in 2 Chronicles 20 that King Jehoshaphat received the message that a great host was coming to battle against him. He knew exactly what to do when the threat of the assault came-do we? He immediately sought the face of the Lord. After praising God in the prayer and reminding God of Who He is and what He has promised, (God likes that- us praying His Word back to Him), the king of Judah  closes with these words, words that I often use- "We do not know what to do but our eyes are on You."

I love that in this narrative of Scripture, the instruction was to sing the Lord's song to the Lord and it had a verse that went like this: "Give thanks to the LORD , for His steadfast love endures forever."  And when the people began to sing and praise, the LORD so confounded the enemy that they began to destroy each other. Yes, dear Brother and dear Sister, that is our GOD!!  I read this quote from Charles Spurgeon in my study time this morning: "It is easy to sing when we can read the notes by daylight, but the skillful singer is he who can sing when there is not a ray of light to read by. Songs in the night come only from God; they are not in the power of men."

One of my fondest memories of my precious Mother, in the presence of God now for almost 26 years, is as she worked in her kitchen, she always was singing the Lord's song to her Lord, many times with a heavy heart, I am sure.  Now, she probably couldn't have been the first soprano in the choir but sweeter music I have never heard. I think God thought so too because her heart was lifted up to Him in praise and adoration for the One Who rescued her soul by dying on the cross for her. I can close my eyes now and hear Rock of Ages coming from that kitchen which was beginning to smell with the aroma of her delicious cooking and in Heaven, the sweet smell of praise from Amazing Grace and Near the Cross was reaching Heaven's throne room.

Sing, Christian, sing!   "Yet the LORD will command His lovingkindness in the daytime, and in the night His song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life." Ps. 42:8

 - Deborah