NIGHT SONGS!

 

Monday, May 31, 2021

 

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.

 

           Many 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.

 

           Since Memorial Day is a day to remember, I began 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 a special friend 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

ANOTHER PLEASANT VALLEY SUNDAY!

 

Sunday, May 30, 2021

 

ANOTHER PLEASANT VALLEY SUNDAY!

 

Matt 24:37-39

37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying, and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,

39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

 

Memorial Day reminds me of an old song. “Pleasant Valley Sunday” is a song by Gerry Goffin and Carole King, most famous for the version recorded by The Monkees in 1967. Goffin’s and king’s inspiration for the name was a street named Pleasant Valley Way, in West Orange, New Jersey where they were living at the time. The road follows a valley through several communities among the Watchung Mountains. The lyrics were a social commentary on status symbols, creature comforts, life in suburbia and “keeping up with the Joneses.” (Source Wikipedia) Thoughtless consumerism is not a new phenomenon, and neither is social commentary although both did spike in the sixties.

 

Jesus predicted that “the coming of the Son of man” would take place during a time of lazy luxury. People would be focused on the common affairs of daily life and that these concerns would crowd out any thought of morality, God, or eternity. Jesus never recommended the abandonment of daily activities, but He did warn against an irreligious life.

 

As we light the grill and slice the watermelon, let us remember those who died to give us the freedoms we enjoy. As we go about our daily activities, let us glance occasionally at the cross and give thanks to the One who died to purchase our salvation.

 

Dear Lord, let me not be so consumed with consumerism that I forget to remember your sacrifice. AMEN

OTHERS MAY YOU CANNOT!

 

Saturday, May 29, 2021

 

OTHERS MAY YOU CANNOT!

 

Matt 16:24-25

24 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

25 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.

 

G.D.Watson (1845-1924) was a Wesleyan Methodist minister and evangelist based in Los Angeles. His evangelistic campaigns took him to England, the West Indies, New Zealand, Australia, Japan, and Korea. He wrote a short piece which has become well known. I have seen it produced as a Gospel tract. It is full of wisdom. I will give a sample because it is too lengthy to display here.

 

If God has called you to be truly like Jesus in all your spirit, He will draw you into a life of crucifixion and humility. He will put on you such demands of obedience that you will not be allowed to follow other Christians. In many ways, He seems to let other good people do things which He will not let you do.

 

Others who seem to be very religious and useful may push themselves, pull wires, and scheme to carry out their plans, but you cannot. If you attempt it, you will meet with such failure and rebuke from the Lord as to make you sorely penitent.

 

Others will be allowed to succeed in making great sums of money, or having a legacy left to them, or in having luxuries, but God may supply you only on a day-to-day basis, because He wants you to have something far better than gold, a helpless dependence on Him and His unseen treasury.

 

God may let others be great but keep you small. He will let others do a work for Him and get the credit, but He will make you work and toil without knowing how much you are doing. Then, to make your work still more precious, He will let others get the credit for the work which you have done; this to teach you the message of the Cross, humility, and something of the value of being cloaked with His nature.

 

So, make up your mind that God is an infinite Sovereign and has a right to do as He pleases with His own, and that He may not explain to you a thousand things which may puzzle your reason in His dealings with you.

 

Dear Lord, instead of being jealous of others, let me be satisfied with the secret relationship which YOU and I share. AMEN