


Why Are You Singing?

Every Christian should have a song in his heart. In Ephesians 5:19 the apostle Paul speaks of “singing and making melody” in our hearts to the Lord. This verse should encourage everyone who finds it difficult to carry a tune that’s suitable for listening ears. Whether with the lips or in the heart only, singing can characterize our lives, even under the worst of circumstances. Many times, that is precisely when God gives us a song to sing.

American pastor and author James H. Brookes told of visiting a friend’s house and hearing the music of a bird singing. It was not the ordinary sound of chirping; instead it resembled the strains of a lovely melody. At first Brookes didn’t know where it was coming from; but when he glanced around the room, he saw a beautiful bullfinch in a birdcage. The lady of the house explained that it had been taught to sing that way at night. The teacher would repeat the notes time and again until the bird was able to mimic them. But this was possible only because it was dark, and the bird’s attention would not be diverted.

How often we learn our sweetest songs when the blackness of trial closes in around us. This was David’s experience. Cast down and almost despairing of life, he said,”…in the night His song shall be with me.” Elihu spoke of God giving “songs in the night” (Job 35:10).

Oh, friend, let’s not despair when the darkness of trouble descends upon us. God is with us; God will help us; God will give us a song. (Copied).

We are not at all surprised to hear people singing.  Some do so all day with a music station or CD they hear.  Others sing in their car or wherever they are alone.  Churches are filled with the sound of singing.  Those are common times when we hear the voices of folks sing. 

What is not as common is hearing someone sing through their sorrows, wounds, or griefs. How amazing is it when a person that lives with many difficulties, pain, poverty, or loneliness can find a melody in their heart that cannot be contained!  We remember Jesus singing a hymn as He led the disciples from the Upper Room out to Gethsemane where he would be arrested. We read of Paul and Silas singing in a Philippian jail at midnight.  When we see joy in the face of extreme trial, we don’t have to ask if a person’s faith is genuine.

Consider the witness we give when we are faithful through suffering. My mind is drawn to Annie Johnson Flint, author of 6,000 hymns and gospel songs. She was an orphan. She lived with crippling arthritis. She was stricken with cancer. Yet her faith was especially evident in this hymn:

He giveth more grace as the burdens grow greater

He sendeth more strength when the labors increase;

To added afflictions, He addeth His mercy,

To multiplied trials His multiplied peace.    (Copied).