Our BSF lesson this week ended with a great question- "After studying the first twelve chapters of Isaiah, what song would you like to sing to God?" The question kind of came from Isaiah 12, which is a beautiful song of praise to the Prince of Peace.
Listen to some of these beautiful words of assurance.
"Your anger has turned away and you have comforted me."
"Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid."
"With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation."
There are songs to sing to a God who does those things. And Andy and I have been singing them! I love the story of Paul and Silas from Acts 16. They were thrown in prison for doing something right, but instead of growing bitter and angry and complaining, they sang songs and prayed. Andy and I have been working this out in our marriage the past couple of weeks. When we've become discouraged or hurt, we've sat down on our sofa, opened up one of our song books, and sung hymns! We have felt the Lord bless our hearts with strength, courage, hope and deep fellowship with each other in these times.
Some of our favorites are- "What a Friend we Have in Jesus" "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross" "How Firm a Foundation" "My Goal is God Himself" "Leaning on the Everlasting Arms" and today, I sang (by myself) "Love Lifted Me"
It's a blessing to sing- neither of us (sorry, love!) have the gift of beautiful voice, but we do love to sing to the Lord. And as we lift our voices, He lifts our hearts with His steadfast love.
One of the hymnals we have is a book my mom gave me a couple of Christmases ago. It's called, "Then Sings my Soul" by Robert J. Morgan and it is really beautiful. Not only is it full of hymns, but includes a little background story for each one, with biographical info about the song writers. Today, as I sang "Love Lifted Me" my eyes were drawn over to another verse written by this song writer, Howard E. Smith. It's from a lesser known hymn of his called "God Holds the Future in His Hands."
Dread not the things that are ahead,
The burdens great, the sinking sands,
The thorns that o'er the path are spread,
God holds the future in His hands.
God holds the future in His hands
And every heart He understands.
On Him depend, He is your Friend,
He holds the future in His hands.
I know this. I love Jesus Christ with my entire heart and my life is completely dependent on Him and His future-holding hands. And I also know this- I am passionate that everyone I know come to the same realization- albeit it painful and frightening at times, what with the sinking sands and the thorns. But I hope we all learn to depend on Him, He is our Friend, and he holds the future in His hands.
May His love lift you today! What song will you sing to Him when it does?
I saved that question for our fellowship today and we had a great time sharing the words from old hymns and new choruses, as well as songs written by my ladies just for that question. Believers do want to sing to Jesus but I would say we are so inhibited by our churches, family members, friends and circumstances that we cannot sing as we want to. I think pastors and worship leaders set the tone and if they CANNOT sing with joy, with uplifted hands, with hearts of forgiveness and gratitude, we miss out on freedom in Christ to worship Him as we know we should and would. Thanks for writing this.
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