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.
As we saw last Monday, the second half of I Timothy 3:16 records what good scholars believe is part of a hymn from the early Church in the first century: “God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.” The expression “justified in the Spirit” is an intriguing one. It points to the vindication of the claims of Jesus to be the Messiah; specifically, it directs us to His resurrection, which confirmed that He is God the Savior, the God of everlasting life. Romans 1:4 emphatically states that Jesus was “declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.” A song that celebrates this life-giving and life-sustaining work of the Holy Spirit through Jesus Christ is “Breathe on Me, Breath of God.” We will listen to a rendition by Reawaken Hymns.