Hi, this is Joni Eareckson Tada and some of my favorite hymns are the ones that go way back so far. See if you know this one…
(Joni sings:)
My song is love unknown
My Savior’s love to me
Love to the loveless shown
That they might lovely be
O who am I, that for my sake
My Lord should take frail flesh and die?
I tell you what, if you do know that one, you are going to have to write me, ’cause I’m sure not many people remember that hymn.
You know, it can be an old one like this or maybe a new praise chorus, or a gospel song from the 30s, or maybe one of the contemporary hymns by Keith and Kristyn Getty… it doesn’t matter what it is, just so the words speak of our great God and Savior and… I can reach the high notes. I find that singing hymns and Scripture songs or maybe a hymn like this one is the best way to comfort myself. In fact, this one I just sang, it’s my favorite hymn when I want to give consolation to my soul when I’m feeling discouraged.
That’s why often I’ll sing when I’m in bed at night. I’ve told you this before, for me being paralyzed and lying in bed can be so claustrophobic. Add to that a dark room, and it can feel choking. At least when I’m sitting up, I can flail my arms around; but when lying down, gravity is my enemy, and so to comfort myself, I’ll sing (very quietly so as to not wake my husband) and a favorite at night is this old Anglican hymn I just sang for you.
You know, Charles Spurgeon wrote, “Any man can sing in the day. When the cup is full, man draws inspiration from it. When wealth rolls in abundance around him, any man can praise the God who gives a plenteous harvest … The difficulty is for music to swell forth when no wind is stirring. It is easy to sing when we can read the notes by daylight; but he is skillful who sings when there is not a ray of light to read by—one who sings from the heart… Lay me upon the bed of languishing, and how shall I then chant God’s high praises, unless He Himself give the song? No, it is not in man’s power to sing when all is adverse, unless an altar-coal shall touch his lip… Then, since our Maker gives ‘songs in the night,’ let us wait upon Him for the music.”
I don’t know how your day – or your evening – is going, but maybe you find yourself in a season when “no wind is stirring,” as Spurgeon put it. These are lean days for you, hard days, and you find that spiritually, there’s no song in your heart. Well, maybe it’s time that you asked God to put a song back in your heart. Job 35:10 promises us that God gives us songs in the night – not just daytime music when you’ve got enough light to read the notes, no – but nighttime songs: heaven-sent music that can comfort and console, reminding you that you’re not alone in the dark. It’s not in your power to sing when all is adversity, unless the Spirit touches your lips with a coal from the altar. So it’s my prayer today that God will do just that – remember, he loves to give songs in your nighttime seasons, so be patient and wait upon him until he gives his music. And who knows, maybe in the dark, you’ll join me in a little harmony.
Used by permission of
JONI AND FRIENDS
P.O. Box 3333
Agoura Hills, CA 91376
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