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.
One of my favorite Christmas songs is “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day.” It was written by the esteemed American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, a Maine native (and fellow Bowdoin College graduate). As the Civil War raged in December of 1863, Longfellow thought of the inherent tension between the beauty of the season of the Savior’s birth and the brutality of that sad but necessary conflict. The angels praised God on the first Christmas with these familiar words: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men” (Luke 2:14), and the poet joins in that praise yet wonders about the prevailing death and destruction. He reaches the only logical conclusion: there is coming a time when God’s “peace” will be fully accomplished. Let us listen to a version of this hymn by We the Messengers.