Melodic Mondays
Those of you who know me know that I love music even though I am not musical myself. I listen to good music as often as I can. It is beneficial to the brain, valuable to the vocabulary, and strengthening to the soul. Isaiah 12:2-3 is a lovely passage that includes this soaring statement of surety: “The Lord JEHOVAH [YAHWEH] is my strength and my song.” This could be translated, “God is my mountaintop and my music.” Yes, He is! Each Monday, I want to study this subject and suggest a song to listen to. Anyone reading this devotional has easy access to any song. (I am an exception because I do not go on a computer or other information device.) If you do not like my suggestion (and we all have different tastes), you can think of or search for one that speaks to you. Then, it can become a source of encouragement throughout the week.
A more recent addition to the genre of Gospel train songs is “The Long Black Train” by Josh Turner. Before I had heard this song, I heard about if from a young man who was a student of mine. He was moved by the lyrics and the accompanying video. Here, the train is Satan’s, and this song becomes one of warning. In the American South in particular, country preachers used this imagery to create versions of the “Train Sermon,” using evocative language such as “running between here and hell, making thirteen steps and arriving in hell ahead of time” and “down grade all the way.” It is no surprise, then, that a myriad of songs were written expressing similar sentiments. We are reminded of the need to “put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil” (Ephesians 6:11).