Sing a new song

YOU WILL BE STRONG

You will rejoice

You will be strong

And you will soar on wings like eagles

Re-discovering your song

You will rejoice

Sing a new song

You will be strong

Sing a new song

 

As you wait upon the Lord

Your joy will be restored

As you wait upon the Lord

Your strength will be restored

Your joy will return

Your strength will return

Your song will be restored.

—————————————————————————————————————————————–

Scripture Reading

“Sing a new song of praise to him; play skillfully on the harp, and sing with joy.” Psalm 33:3, NLT

“David also ordered the Levite leaders to appoint a choir of Levites who were singers and musicians to sing joyful songs to the accompaniment of harps, lyres, and cymbals.” 1 Chronicles 15:16, NLT

“And Nehemiah continued, “Go and celebrate with a feast of rich foods and sweet drinks, and share gifts of food with people who have nothing prepared. This is a sacred day before our Lord. Don’t be dejected and sad, for the joy of the Lord is your strength!” Nehemiah 8:10, NLT

“The commandments of the Lord are right, bringing joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are clear, giving insight for living.” Psalm 19:8, NLT

More than any other group of people, Christians should be full of joy. The knowledge that our sins are forgiven and forgotten, that death has been defeated, that we belong to God,  and that He Himself the Answer in every situation ought to keep our hearts filled with deep, abiding joy.

But Christians aren’t always joyful, me included!  I’ve discovered some of the things the enemy uses to try to steal our joy:

• the grind of our daily schedules sometimes creates a sense of purposelessness and makes us feel like a caged bird. We begin to feel like our lives are not our own, and that we are catering to the whims and demands of our workplaces and our families;
• interruptions that make it hard to spend quality time with the Lord daily;
• spending too much time on pursuits that don’t feed our spirits;
• attention grabbing headlines which make it look like evil is winning;
• tempting us to meditate on our problems rather than on God’s word;
• getting us to focus on what we don’t have, rather than on cultivating contentment;
• a critical and complaining attitude where all we can see is what’s wrong with our surroundings or the people around us;
• rehearsing our hurts instead of inviting the Lord to heal us;
• feeling left out and like we don’t belong.

It seems to me that in the last two months I’ve faced all the above!

God gently helped me course-correct by dropping the words and melody of a new song into my spirit a few days ago:

You will rejoice

You will be strong

And you will soar on wings like an eagle

Rediscovering your song!

Faith leapt in my spirit as I sang and meditated on these words. God wanted to restore my joy and my spiritual strength. And I knew that the reference to eagles meant that I needed to be intentional about spending quality time with Him in order to experience His refreshing( Isaiah 40:30-31).

So this morning I decided to spend a couple of hours waiting on Him –  worshipping Him and casting all my cares on Him.  I feel better already!

But I know that I’ll need to keep seeking Him and waiting on Him until the joy of His presence erases the darkness that was trying to overwhelm my soul.

Lord help us to prioritize our daily time with You – and give You “time of substance.”  Help us to continually wait on you like your friends Nehemiah and David did.   David found joy and strength in praising and worshiping You. Nehemiah discovered that Your joy was His strength. And so will we.  Thank You Lord.