A Song In The Night
Scripture
But each day the Lord pours His unfailing love upon me,
and through each night I sing His songs,
praying to God who gives me life.
~Psalm 42:8
Quote
God allows the darkness to deepen our understanding of Him, our faith in Him and our love for Him.
~Ya’akov
My Thoughts
I don’t like total darkness but I do realize there are things we see in the darkness that we cannot see in the light. I love to star gaze and they come out at night. I had a preacher friend who never attended college or seminary. He would use the dictionary to come up with his sermon titles. He told me one Saturday night that he was going to preach on the Vissitudes of Life the next day. I had never heard the word in my life and immediately I asks, “Rob, what does that word vissitudes mean?” He said, “I really down know exactly and neither will they; but they will think that I am highly educated.” I looked it up and it refers to the unpredictable, often uncontrollable ups and downs in life. It is what C.S. Lewis called the undulations. Most commonly used in the plural, the word describes the inevitable shifts, fluctuations, and hardships we all navigate as part of the human experience. We have bright shinny days and dark dreary nights. We have blue skies and clear sailing and then we have storms. Life is a mixture of both.
When David wrote Psalm 42 he was in a storm. Many think he wrote it while fleeing from Absalom. His life was being threatened and a cloud of despair hang over him, but it was in these dark times that David wrote most of his songs including this one. Going through some of my old notes I came across this story that I had recorded. It came from James Brookes who was visiting a friend in the middle of the night. Brookes heard a beautiful melody coming from another room. He tried to carry on his conversation but the man’s wife realized he was puzzled and she said, “Come here and I will show you were the music is coming from.” She opened the door to the ajoining room and showed him a bullfinch in a birdcage. The bird was not chirping, it was actually singing the notes. She said, “He only sings in the dark, otherwise his attention is diverted.”
Over three millenniums ago, a young boy grew up on a farm and one of his responsibilites was to care for the livestock; a task in which he excelled. As a teenager he went off to fight a war and became a decorated solider, hailed nationally as a hero. Did I mention that he was a gifted musician and talented song writer. Eventually, he would become one of, if not the, most powerful man in the Middle East. Thank God he recorded his songs and today, some three thousand years later, his songs are sung by billions. Think for a moment about the statue of a man who could accomplish such feats; now remember this, he was subject to depression and had moments of despair. Today his immortal words bring us great comfort…Don’t be discouraged? Don’t be so sad? Put your hope in Christ. Praise Him as your Savior and LORD! {Psalm 42:11, JEV}
Extra
Of all things, I have been bitten by a tick and they have put me on a medication that is hard on the stomach and I have to avoid the sun as much as possible. LORD willing, I will be at the 49er luncheon today. I think all the kids are out of school and some of the teachers finish today. I know they are tickled.
Our rain gauge is messed up or else we don’t know how to read it. Our history button says 3.39 and I am guessing this is for the entire month of May but I don’t know. I think we got a little less than an inch yesterday. Praise the LORD for the rain.
TGIF day and I hope you have a good one and thanks for reading the blog.