The Song of My Father

 









 


I don’t know about you guys, but Hannah’s “Songs of Praise” post last week really encouraged me, and so I thought I would kind of continue where she left off because it’s amazing how many of the truths she wrote about are the very same truths God’s been revealing to me as well!
 

Isaiah 12~ Songs of Praise
 
In that day you will say:
“I will praise you, O Lord.
Although you were angry with me,
your anger has turned away
and you have comforted me.
Surely God is my salvation;
I will trust and not be afraid.
The Lord, the Lord, is my strength and my song;
he has become my salvation.”
With joy you will draw water
from the wells of salvation.

In that day you will say:
“Give thanks to the Lord, call on his name;
make known among the nations what he has done,
and proclaim that his name is exalted.
Sing to the Lord, for he has done
glorious things;
let this be known to all the world.
Shout aloud and sing for joy, people of Zion,
for great is the Holy One of Israel among you.”


Isaiah 12 (which is actually entitled, “Songs of Praise”! How cool!) is one of my most recent favorites, and it has been a great reminder of the fact that “The Lord is my strength and my song”, which is the theme God gave me for 2018. It’s a new year and for me especially, being a Senior in high school, I know there are a lot of new things coming my way. So I have been determined to start this year off with the right mindset: Singing a new song unto the Lord! Which is exactly what Hannah talked about in her beautifully written post!

“If the birds sing and the wind whistles to bring glory to its Creator, how much more so should we humans, who are made in the image of God, use our every breath to praise the One who created us, saves us, and sustains us all out of love!”

Hannah shared all about what our song we sing to the Lord should sound like, and now I would like to talk about the flip side of that: what GOD’S song He sings to US sounds like. Because gosh! There’s just so many things to say about the Lord’s song! It never ceases to amaze me how good of a Father God is… and I can’t find any better explanation of the Lord’s song He sings than in Zephaniah 3:17, which says,

“The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save.
He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love,
he will rejoice over you with singing.”

An article I read a little while ago from Goodness of God Ministries really opened my eyes to the significance of this verse: 

"In one of the most amazing verses in Scripture, the Bible describes the deep and abiding love God has for us. O how hard it is in this generation to believe that God loves us; that God cares for us; that God treasures us and that God is concerned about EVERY detail of our lives. In the depth of our hearts we have failed to believe that God really loves us. Yet Zephaniah declares a breathtaking truth about God’s love.

In Zeph. 3:17, “rejoice” is translated from a Hebrew word, meaning to “spin around under violent emotion,” or basically to dance. So Zeph. 3:17 is more accurately translated as, “Yahweh, your God in your midst, the Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His Love, He will dance over you with singing.”

Can you imagine this that God is literally dancing over you with shouts of joy? Oh how we have missed this beautiful picture of God’s love. How beautiful must be the sound of His voice. How wonderful must be the song? How breathtaking it must be to see God dance. And it is all over you, His beloved child. " (goodnessofgodministries.wordpress.com)

Being a dancer myself, I love this realization that God is physically dancing and rejoicing and singing his song of love over me! It makes me want to sing a new song right back up to Him, and dance my whole heart out in worship before the God of all creation- the God who chose ME and loves ME! And it makes me want to remind myself over and over again of all the amazing promises wrapped up in that one verse that God makes to us!

…The Lord your God is with you. He is Immanuel- “God with us”- and He will never leave you nor forsake you (Deut. 31:6) He hems you in behind and before (Psalm 139:5), tucking you in and surrounding you with His Presence like a huge, warm blanket of love! And the plans He has for you are good, good plans (Jer. 29:11).

…He is mighty to save! El Shaddai! God Almighty! He tells us that He can do ALL THINGS and NOTHING is impossible for Him! In this world, we are guaranteed to have trouble, but we can take heart and rest assured in knowing that the Lord fights for us (Exodus 14:14) and he has already overcome the world (John 16:33)!

…He will take great delight in you. He is our good, good Father, and he finds so much joy in watching us live life for Him! He is so proud of you, his child, and he is constantly rooting for you and cheering you on toward victory! So learn to delight yourself in the LORD (Psalm 37:4), for He already infinitely delights in you!

…He will quiet you with his love. All your fears will be drowned in the light of his perfect love, for perfect love casts out ALL fear (1 John 4:18). Gaze upon him and remember his great love for you- his almighty, unending, never-failing, all-consuming love- and He will help you to simply “be still and know that he is God” (Psalm 46:10) as you learn to rest in His Presence. 

…He will rejoice over you with singing! And His song- the song of Your Father in Heaven- is a song that NEVER ceases, NEVER gets old, and NEVER looses it’s sincerity! He is overjoyed by you! And just like that article talked about, the Lord God Almighty literally jumps and dances and leaps for joy at just the thought of you! :) He loves you soooo very much! And He is so proud of you.

So, as you go about your day, remember Who is thinking about you…Who is watching you…Who is singing over you and rejoicing in your every move! For God Almighty- the Lord of Heaven and earth- takes great delight in you as his child, and he never stops singing his song of love over your life!

I close with a song that beautifully wraps up just about everything I’ve mentioned about God’s song. It’s called “Song of My Father”, by Urban Rescue, and it’s been very close to my heart recently, so I hope it encourages you, and reminds you of all these truths I’ve talked about that God's been showing me. :) 

"Song of My Father"  
https://youtu.be/m8dYLZVjwhA


~McKenna  



 

Songs of Praise

As the sweet sound of birds singing outside my window reaches my ears, I am reminded of a simple and special truth. How beautiful are the praises of God's creation! Wind rustling the leaves, thunder pealing, waves crashing onto a sandy shore, rain splashing onto the ground, a baby giggling...they are all songs of praise. 

God "calls forth His praise from the lips of children and infants" (Psalm 8:2) and "the stones will cry out" if we keep silent (Luke 19:40). God's creation was made to praise Him, for He is glorious and ultimately deserving of all praise. If the birds sing and the wind whistles to bring glory to its Creator, how much more so should we humans, who are made in the image of God, use our every breath to praise the One who created us, saves us, and sustains us all out of love!

Notably, we humans often do not use our lives for the glory of God, but rather for the glory of ourselves. I am guilty of this. It's easy to let our minds and hearts wander toward selfish thoughts during a moment of worship in church while our lips move soundlessly. It's easy to strive toward personal gain, academic success, and human acknowledgement instead of using our lives and talents as we should. 

Who provides us with each breath as we run frantically throughout the day? Who calls the sun forth in the morning so that we may wake? Who instills dreams and desires in our hearts? What are their purposes? Are we given talents and abilities so that we may be another person on a pedestal, holding gilded trophies above our heads as if it was by our strength or choosing that we have achieved anything noteworthy? Are we given desires for the purpose of chasing after what we crave when we crave it? 

A song sung for oneself is empty and lacking. The world is humming a tune of selfishness, of personal longings appeased by wealth, fame, and fleeting love. Many of us have become so accustomed to hearing the cacophony of voices and meaningless words and promises that we have forgotten how beautiful a song sung for God is. We have chosen to ignore how fulfilling a life lived for our Creator is because the noise of this world has plugged our ears. What does it sound like to hear a song sung for God? 

Yesterday, at my church, there was a rose procession in remembrance of the 45th anniversary of the legalization of abortion. Mothers and fathers, children and teenagers, walked down the aisle, carrying a single rose that represented all the unborn children aborted during each year since the Roe v. Wade case 45 years ago. Thus, 45 roses were brought forward and placed in a basket. 

Seeing this procession brought me to tears and opened my ears to the beautiful tune God's people were singing all around me. They were singing for the wonder, the beauty, and the preciousness of life. They were praising God, the giver of all life. They were thanking Him for each heartbeat, each breath He grants to all living things. They were not 'singing' for themselves, for their personal wishes. They were not singing the songs that the world was telling them to sing. They were singing songs of praise. Praise to God. 

Such a song touched my heart in more ways than I can explain. Seeing others bring the rightful glory to the Lord, the giver of life, comforted me. It made me want to praise the same God they were praising, to feel the same special love that overflowed from their hearts. It was beautiful. 

In the same way, the song we sing with our lives, with our actions and our words, reaches the ears of countless people each day. I pray that the melody I sing and the words I profess would not promote myself or my accomplishments, but would bring glory to the One who made me and blessed me with unique talents and dreams. 

We have been made to praise, to sing a song of love to our Creator and Savior. Our life's song will either bring glory to God or to ourselves. Like the songs of birds outside my window, may our lives be like a sweet melody that reminds all those around us of the One who fills our hearts with joy and our lips with praise.