NIGHT SONGS!

NIGHT SONGS!

Ps 42:5-8

5 Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.

6 O my God, my soul is cast down within me: therefore will I remember thee from the land of Jordan, and of the Hermonites, from the hill Mizar.

7 Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts: all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me.

8 Yet the Lord will command his lovingkindness in the daytime, and in the night his song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life.

          Thirty plus years ago I used to host a short radio program called Midnight Melodies. It was devotional in scope and blended what I hoped would be my soft bass voice and some really good Christian music. This program closed the broadcast day and what I wanted was to create an atmosphere of calm and to invoke the presence of the Lord before people closed their eyes in sleep. Yes, there once was a time when radio stations and television stations shut down at about midnight with the national anthem and some kind of devotional thought. I was the devotional thought. This local station offered five minutes of free time both morning and evening. I took advantage of both. The morning program, I think, was called Morning Devotions.

          I woke up about an hour early this morning thinking of a few of the faces that formed my ministry in those days. I miss them and wonder if they think of me. One such friend was Jim Jacomino, a man who befriended me when I needed one and a man who taught me how to produce a good quality program with my head stuck inside a cardboard box. With my head and shoulders inside a cardboard box, a nightlight illuminating my script, and a cheap Radio Shack microphone and turntable, I produced both programs onto a cassette. How things have changed. But I reminisce!

          In our text above there is an important change that is missed by one who doesn’t do deep study. In verse 6 and verse 11 the psalmist addresses his God as Elohim but in verse 8 he is addressed as Jehovah. Warren Wiersbe comments on this significant change:

“In verse 8, the writer used Jehovah instead of Elohim, and this was a turning point in his difficult experience. Jehovah is the God of the covenant, the faithful God who cares for His people. He is the God who showers His people with lovingkindness, gives them promises they can claim when they pray, and hears them when they praise and worship.” There is power in praise and worship!

Acts 16:25-26

25 And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them.

26 And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one's bands were loosed.

Dear Lord, bless those whose faces haunt me in the early morning hours. Thank you for songs in the night. AMEN