When you choose to sing praises to God in times of darkness, powerful things happen. It’s those times that make God the sole comforter of his own people in their seasons of affliction.
SHAUNA: This is Shauna on Joni Eareckson Tada: Sharing Hope. (pause) Joni, anyone who’s been around you for any length of time knows you love to sing hymns!
(JONI sings:)
Jesus, be endless praise to thee
Whose boundless mercy hath for me
For me a fool atonement made
And everlasting ransom paid
I love that hymn! Psalm 77:6 says, “I will remember God's songs in the night.” And it’s a good thing, because powerful things happen when we keep a song in our heart during dark, lonely dismal times. I mean look at the Lord Jesus. The only place where it is recorded in scripture that Jesus sang was right after he had broken bread with his disciples on the night he was betrayed. They sang a hymn and then went out into the dark to the garden of Gethsemane. I have to think that the Hebrew song that they sang at the close of their Passover supper had to give Jesus courage. And then just a few years afterward, Paul and Silas were confined in a dark jail at night – they had been flogged earlier in the day, but at midnight they remembered God's songs.
And what happened? Although the prison doors flung open and everyone’s chains fell off, nobody left – none of the prisoners tried to escape. They stayed there with Paul and Silas. They were absolutely mesmerized by the courage they saw in these two disciples of Christ who, because of the pain and the bruises of their afflictions, chose to sing praises to God in the nighttime. And because the prisoners remained with Paul and Silas, they – along with the jailer – heard the good news of salvation that ended up transforming their lives. But it all started with a song. Powerful things happen when we choose to sing praises to God in times of darkness. It is those times that make God the direct personal comforter of his own people in their seasons of affliction. When we sing in the night, when we sing during dark times, God's power of redemption is released, such as in the case of Paul and Silas and their cellmates who miraculously stayed to hear the Gospel.
And you know, it’s one of the reasons I so love to sing in my wheelchair especially during my own seasons of affliction – when I’m in pain. I figure that people watching can connect the dots, especially skeptical unbelievers who are watching. They see my wheelchair, they hear my song, and they can make the connection. And God's redemptive power is put on display there. Psalm 42:8 says, “By day the Lord directs his love, at night his song is with me – a prayer to the God of my life.” May I encourage you to sing during the dark seasons of your soul? As Psalm 42 says, it’ll be a prayer to the God who will display his redemptive power in you.
SHAUNA: Well, I will remember this, Joni, and friend, if you need help getting through the dark times, go to joniradio.org for even more hope and inspiration from Joni. And do it today, and later when night falls, let God's songs be with you through the dark.
© Joni and Friends