SCRIPTURE: He has given me a new song to sing, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see what he has done and be amazed. They will put their trust in the Lord. Psalm 40:3 NLT
THOUGHT: I beg to differ that life is like a box of chocolates, but maybe it’s because I love music even more than the dark confection of February (but don’t tell my husband). Music and lyrics have had a powerful influence for both good and bad throughout my life. I credit it with keeping the door open to faith even when I felt that God had failed me, and on the flip side, for several seasons, it took me away from God and right toward the evil Satan had in store to steal, kill and destroy.
No, life is more like a song. There is tension, there is relief. There are punishing staccato beats and discordant lines, and there are elegant harmonies and peaceful arias. Sin makes wreckage of beautiful passages. In the midst of the song, we hardly know the beginning or the end, and there are pauses that seem to take an eternity – open spaces where we can only wait, praying for the melody to return again with sweet resolution.
That ancient songwriter, King David, might have agreed and his songs are filled with all of the above. Lament is interwoven with great joy, fear with faith. And there is a lot of waiting – 28 times in the Psalms (KJV), the word is used, including this one: Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord. Psalm 27:14 NIV
And so the little lesson God has taught me is that life is like a song. In the places where we’ve encountered hardness and bitterness and brokenness, we have to wait and be of good courage. The supreme songwriter is weaving a melody so sweet it will erase all the cacophony that came before.
But it takes so long
Amy Clemens “MELODY” 1.12.11
To make us strong
In all the broken places
To learn mistakes belong
In songs, like lonely open spaces
So we wait in what remains
‘Til melody erases pain
PRAYER: Thank you, God, for the music of earth, and thank you for the moments when the music of heaven reaches us down here, putting a new song in our mouths, a song of praise so that many will see what you have done and put their trust in you, the supreme songwriter.
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Blogger Amy Clemens is the author of Walking When You’d Rather Fly: Meditations on Faith After the Fall. In it she explores childhood sexual abuse and how it impacted her faith (or lack thereof) for four decades. You’ll find not only her story, but better yet, the Big Story of God.
Check out Walking When You’d Rather Fly, and learn more about the book and Amy’s other ministries. You will also find her devotional work at Words of Hope.
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