Singing is the best offense and the best defense against darkness. Hymns act as a searchlight, dispelling darkness and fear. So next time you’re afraid and feeling the darkness crowd you in, pick a hymn and get singing!
“Amazing Grace.” Hi, I’m Joni and let’s sing it together:
Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost but now I’m found, was blind but now I see.
I have a memory for you. Remember when you were on a dark path on a windy night? Maybe you were cutting through someone’s field to go home? You were a kid and it was dark and eerie, maybe under a full moon? And perhaps as you approached a wooded area, it seemed the trees hunched, and their branches groped at you like fingers of a phantom? An owl screeched. A cloud eclipsed what light there was, making your path even darker. Remember that? Okay, okay, so it was a dark parking lot and it wasn’t moonlight, but streetlight, and it wasn’t an owl that screeched but somebody’s tires hot-rodding up the street. The point is, you’ve been there, right? So, what did you do?
You sang, didn’t you? Or at least you whistled. It’s a common reaction for a good reason. Ever since the days of Jehoshaphat, people facing fear have resorted to song. But for God’s people, it’s not any old song that chases away dark spirits. When Jehoshaphat was confronted by a huge military machine of Ammonites and Moabites, he had his people fast, pray, and then he assembled his troops. He gathered his army. But just who comprised his front line? Was it the cavalry? The infantry? No, it was a choir.
And these singers weren’t ordered to only whistle in the dark; they were to march out before the Israelite army and praise the beauty of God’s holiness. And when they began to sing and to praise, lo and behold, the enemy was thrown into confusion. Befuddled, enemy camps turned on one another, they did. And Jehoshaphat’s army then made a shambles of them, carrying away the plunder.
And boy is that good news for any Christian who’s “afraid of the dark,” so to speak—oh, not actual darkness when you leave the office building late at night, but dark thoughts, dark times, dark moods and moments, a dark countenance, or even dark spirits hanging around. ’Cause nothing clears the spiritual air like fresh songs of praise. If you are in the middle of spiritual conflict, if the enemy is poised and ready to attack, the best defense is to sing. It's a way of resisting the devil. But, I tell you what, singing is also the best offense. Songs of praise confuse the enemy and send the devil’s hordes high-tailing. And if you’re looking for a hymn that praises the beauty of God’s attributes like none other, there’s no better hymn than “Amazing Grace,” right, the one we just sang.
The words to this hymn shine like a flashlight—no, I’ll say this—a searchlight that dispels the darkness. “Amazing Grace” is like a flame thrower, incinerating every discouraging thought, every anxiety and fear. When we sing hymns, the devil’s hordes have no choice but to retreat. Amy Carmichael, missionary to India, wrote, “Satan cannot endure the power of song and so slips out of the room when there is a hymn of praise.” Sing today if you feel darkness.
© Joni and Friends