“I said, ‘Let me remember my song in the night; let me meditate in my heart.’” (Psalm 77:6)
I don’t like scary movies … or edgy crime shows that strike too close to my own experience being kidnapped!
There are times that night time comes around when it is not really welcomed. Yes, the night time is supposed to be a time to slow down, chill and relax before a restful night’s sleep.
Supposed to be … but sometimes it just doesn’t happen. Far too often it becomes a real life version of the old Rock & Roll song by Bobby Lewis, Tossin’ & Turnin’ All Night. We kick the blanket on the floor … we turn our pillow over … jump out of bed … turn on the light … go to the kitchen for a bite …turn off the light … jump back into bed … it’s the middle of the night! Can you relate? I suspect most if not all of us can.
When our heart is distraught … our mind is overwhelmed and confused …we are pretty sure that if we wake up in the night … we probably won’t be able to go back to sleep. It seems to be that with the coming of darkness and bedtime, all of the uncertainties, problems, and heartaches find their way to the surface. Maybe they have been hidden by the brightness of the day or the busyness of the day, but they do come around, don’t they.
It might be …
• The challenges at work you have to deal with or the uncertainty of no work.
• The challenges of living in such a hostile and unsettling world.
• The challenges that are present in someone else’s family.
• The challenges in our own family … with a spouse … with infidelity … with a parent … or with one of our children … even all of our children!
• The challenges in our own personal lives and living with a conscience that is still sharp and active as opposed to hardened and dull!
• The challenge with regard to our own faith in God and not being able to trust Him as we need to.
The list can actually be added to by so many possibilities … but the fact remains there is a marked absence of peace! And it is just in times such as these that our Maker will offer us “songs in the night” if we will only turn up the volume and listen to Him and His will for us rather than allowing His everlasting truths to be drowned out by the cares and worries of this world.
It is in my own personal life and experience that I must acknowledge that He is there and so mindful of me but I have felt the unrest, the lack of peace and even the presence of fear at times! Isn’t it so that all we really want is to find our way to gladness of heart … to find a song of joy to lift us up … while living in this wicked and evil world with all of its accompanying cares, trials, disappointments and perplexities?
And the answer is there if we will only listen … listen to the precious words of the Lord to His creation. They are not the words or thoughts of the world or of some perceptive author or to be found in some quick-fix formula online.
There are so many passages that could be offered, but the one offered now from the Book of Habakkuk are the words recommended for each of us to read, reflect upon and figure out the way to apply them to our own needs.
“Though the fig tree may not blossom, Nor fruit be on the vines; Though the labor of the olive may fail, And the fields yield no food; Though the flock may be cut off from the fold, And there be no herd in the stalls, Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.” (Habakkuk 3:17-18) This prophet of old was saying that even if everything normal about life then were to collapse, he would still have reason to rejoice because of the Lord he loved and served.
May each of us find the comforting and truly available place where we can say “It is well with my soul!”
Bill Fairchild, Jr.
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